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Energy Innovation Investment Tracker

Congressional Appropriations for Innovation Investments at the U.S. Department of Energy
FY 1978-2015



Figures adjusted using OMB Deflator series.

Note: Figures represent appropriations only for RD&D activities. Deployment activities are excluded from this chart.

Source: AEIC analysis of Gallagher, K.S. and L.D. Anadon, “DOE Budget Authority for Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Database,” Energy Technology Innovation Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, March 26, 2014.

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The Department of Energy (DOE) is the primary avenue for U.S. public investments in energy innovation. DOE directs grants and other resources to the National Laboratories, universities, and businesses to conduct basic science and pre-commercial energy research, development, and demonstration.

The offices at DOE responsible for energy innovation investments include:

  • Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy R&D (EERE)
  • Fossil Energy R&D
  • Nuclear Energy R&D
  • Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E)
  • Basic Energy Sciences (in the Office of Science)
  • Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability

Why Public Investment Matters

As AEIC outlined in its report, Catalyzing American Ingenuity, strong government role in energy R&D is necessary because:

  • Government can undertake basic research whose commercial impacts are years or decades away and highly uncertain—that is, activities that businesses and private investors cannot take on.
  • The value of new knowledge to society as a whole far exceeds its private value to any individual or company. A new discovery informs everyone’s work, not just the scientist or engineer who makes it. Because no individual or company can capture the society-wide value of that new knowledge, there is a systematic under-investment in it—and federal funds can address that market failure.
  • The benefits of energy innovation—such as environmental protection, energy security, and international competitiveness—often have no market, even though they have immense value to the country. Federally-funded innovation is a means of valuing these benefits.

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