US funding boost for fuel efficient transport, solar energy and CCS

clipped from www.energyefficiencynews.com US Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday announced a $300 million boost for a range of clean technologies including fuel-efficient cars and trucks, solar power and carbon capture and storage (CCS). Projects aiming to improve the efficiency of heavy-duty commercial trucks and light-duty cars will benefit from an investment of $240 million – $110 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the rest from annual Department of Energy (DOE) appropriations. For trucks, the targets are a 50% increase in vehicle freight efficiency via improvements like reducing drag and vehicle weight and using drivetrain hybridization, which uses two types of energy converters instead of one. Meanwhile, 24 solar power projects aiming to lower the cost of photovoltaics (PVs) will receive $22 million from the ARRA and more than $50 million from private partners. A further $27 million from the ARRA and DOE funds will go towards developing a workforce trained to install PVs.