Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
A DVANCED E NERGY T ECHNOLOGIES :
B UDGET T RENDS AND C HALLENGES FOR
D OE ' S E NERGY R AND D P ROGRAM *
Mark E. Gaffigan
Acting Director Natural Resources and Environment
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
I am pleased to be here today to discuss the challenges that our nation faces in
meeting its future energy needs. The United States has primarily relied on market
forces to determine its energy portfolio. The market has generally succeeded in
providing us with plentiful, reliable, and inexpensive conventional fossil fuels—
oil, natural gas, and coal—to power our vehicles and run our homes and
businesses. However, as shown in figure 1, the nation's energy portfolio today has
not dramatically changed since 1973. In 2006, fossil fuels accounted for 85
percent of the nation's energy supply as compared with 93 percent in 1973—the
primary difference in the portfolio was the growth of nuclear power in the 1970s
and 1980s. Oil continues to account for 97 percent of the energy consumed for
transportation and fossil fuels continue to generate 71 percent of the nation's
electricity; renewable energy grew slightly during this period to 7 percent of U.S.
energy consumption.
While conventional fossil fuels have provided us with relatively inexpensive
and plentiful energy, they present economic and national security risks and have
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