The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that up to $28 million in funding is available to help states lower the cost and increase the availability of energy efficiency retrofits. These programs will reduce energy use and save money for families and businesses across the country.

The funding opportunity, administered by DOE’s State Energy Program, will also assist states in developing the necessary policy and program frameworks to stimulate investment in cost-effective, long-term energy efficiency deployments, especially in states that do not currently have aggressive energy savings goals in place.

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A recent federal government report finds that climate change is already affecting the ability of federal agencies to fulfill their missions and recommends a new national strategy for climate change adaptation. The progress report from the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force—led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—concludes that the U.S. government must adapt to climate change and build resilience, but it finds significant gaps in the government’s approach to these challenges. To address these gaps, the report calls for a national strategy to integrate climate science into decision-making processes, including the translation of climate science into tools and policies that support federal decision making.

The report also calls for improved communications on climate change impacts, adaptation, and resilience; additional training and resources within the federal government; better coordination and collaboration among U.S. government entities, as well as stakeholders; the identification of priority areas for a coordinated government response, such as water resource management and international adaptation; the establishment of a flexible framework for U.S. government agencies to understand, analyze, and respond to climate change challenges and opportunities; and an evaluation of the results of any adaptation effort, to capture any lessons learned. The task force includes the participation of more than 20 federal entities. See the task force’s progress report on the White House Web site (PDF 227 KB).

Funded by a U.S. Department of Energy award of $1 million, the Hydro Research Foundation is establishing a competitive Hydro Fellowship Program to award two-year fellowships for up to 26 graduate and doctoral level students to conduct relevant research in the field of hydropower-related engineering, environmental and biologic sciences, analysis, or economics. These fellowships will help bolster the hydropower workforce, as the number of strong, graduate-level academic programs in hydropower engineering have been decreasing over the past few decades and much of the current workforce is nearing retirement age.

The fellowship is open to U.S. graduate students who will complete a master’s degree by June 2012 or doctorate degree by June 2013. Fellows are expected to conduct independent research related to hydropower in conjunction with the thesis or dissertation required for their graduate degree.

Each Fellow will receive a tuition allowance (up to $16,000 annually), a living stipend (up to $26,000 annually), an allowance for university-provided health insurance ($900 annually), payment for the Fellow’s attendance at roundtable events, and an honorarium for the Fellow’s primary academic advisor ($2,000 annually). For more information, including a list of research topics and an online application, see the Fellowship page on the Hydro Research Foundation Web site. The application submission deadline is April 9, 2010 and awardees will be notified in May 2010.

Yesterday, the Department of Energy gave national energy efficiency efforts a major boost by releasing new national water heater standards.  According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (“ACEEE”) and other energy efficiency, consumer and environmental organizations, the new standards, which effect millions of new hot water heaters, will result in huge amounts of energy savings.  More from the ACEEE:

In addition, for the very largest home water heaters, the new efficiency standards will for the first time require advanced technologies (heat pumps for electrically-powered products and condensing technology for gas products), paving the way for even bigger future savings.

“From washing hands to hot showers to clean dishes, we all rely on water heaters for our daily needs,” said Steven Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).”These new standards will deliver big national energy savings, reduce consumer energy bills, and cut pollution.”

According to DOE, for most product sizes sold, the new standards can be met with modest changes, such as adding more insulation to today’s conventional tank-style water heaters.For the most common size electric water heater (50 gallons), the standards will save 4 percent while for the most common size gas water heater (40 gallons), the new standards will save 3 percent.These per unit savings add up to big national impacts since more than nine million home water heaters are sold every year and water heating accounts for some 12 percent of the typical home’s energy use.

However, for the biggest products (those with over 55 gallons in storage capacity, which is about 9% and 4% of the electric and gas water heater markets, respectively), the new standards can only be met with heat pump and condensing technology.Heat pump electric water heaters save at least 50 percent and gas condensing water heaters save about 25 percent relative to today’s conventional storage water heaters.

“In the long run, a shift to electric heat pump and condensing gas water heaters is absolutely essential if we are to make deep cuts in household energy use and costs,” said Jeffrey Harris, Vice President, National Programs, of the Alliance to Save Energy. “DOE deserves tremendous credit for kick-starting this transition with its new standards.”

The new standards will save 2.6 quads of energy over 30 years or about enough energy to meet the total needs of about 13 million typical U.S. households for one year.Over the same period, consumers would save about $8.7 billion and carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 154 million metric tons (an amount equal to the typical annual emissions of 30 million cars).

Based on DOE analyses, ACEEE estimates that a transition to electric heat pump and condensing gas products in all sizes and applications that make sense would save about 10 quads of energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 0.5 billion metric tons.

Last year, President Obama committed to accelerate DOE’s work to update many outmoded standards.These new standards are the latest in a series of more than 20 that must be completed during the current presidential term.

“Just a year into President Obama’s administration, DOE has made remarkable progress to update appliance standards,” said Andrew deLaski, Executive Director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). “DOE’s new standards prove again that the cheapest and cleanest energy is the energy we save.”

Condensing and heat pump technologies are common in space heating but have only a toehold so far in the water heater market.More than 40 percent of U.S. furnace sales are of condensing products, and about 8 percent of U.S. homes are warmed with heat pumps.Several major water heater companies have brought these technologies to the water heater market and other major manufacturers are working to develop and introduce competing products.

“The Obama Administration has demonstrated again its strong commitment to an energy-efficient future with these standards.These standards are a big step toward improving the efficiency of U.S. homes,” said Tim Ballo, Associate Attorney for Earthjustice. “We are encouraged to see the Obama Administration make the right choice and give energy efficiency the boost that it deserves. We hope this decision signals the Administration’s future choices on energy efficiency standards, which have the ability to put money back in the American people’s pockets, spur innovation, create jobs, and lift our economy, while at the same time reducing harmful air pollution from power plants.”

A broad coalition of consumer, energy efficiency, and environmental groups as well as utilities, state officials, and more than 17,000 individuals wrote DOE urging adoption of the standards announced today.

Today’s final rule also updates minimum standards for less common products such as tankless water heaters (also known as instantaneous water heaters), pool heaters, and direct heating equipment, a type of space heater.

Populus is a full service sustainable design consulting firm that focuses on high performance, net-zero and near-net-zero custom residential and multi-family projects.  Populus guides architects and builders through the requirements of mandatory green building codes and optional green home certification programs, providing HERS rating, energy consulting and third-party verification services.  In addition, Populus provides consulting and training to municipalities to aid in the aid in the implementation of residential programs and energy codes.  Visit Populus at www.popboulder.com.

A recent Department of Energy study shows that the United States’ potential for wind power generation, using today’s technology, is nearly ten times the total amount of electricity generated in the United States last year.  See the story here.