Energy+(science+&+technology)

What areas of the stimulus package address the issue of energy (science and technology)?

The real goal of the energy part of this bill is to promote clean technologies, provide short-term relief at the gas pumps, put 1 million Hybrid cars on the road by 2015, and have 10% of our energy come from renewable resources by 2012. There are quite a few critics to the plan though. Some people are saying that he is spending too much money too quickly in the wrong places, while others say that energy is too underrepresented in the bill. It would at least $2 trillion over the next two years to come up with an energy grid for the country that the President wants. The problem is that the bill only sets aside $1 billion for the grid. John Kerry thinks that the entire bill should be more focused on energy. The way that energy will help to economy and the country is that it will create about 5 million jobs over the next ten years to build, maintain, and create all of these new technologies. So overall energy is important in the bill and will help the country, yet there could be more done to help it even more.

Sources- CBSNews.com, BarackObama.com, money.CNN.com, NPR.org, SFGate.com. I personally trust all of my sources because I trust the news to give us good information that is correct, and NPR is one of the sources you suggested for us. -Information added by Chelsea Hendricks

Another main goal of the stimulus package is to increase energy efficiency through modernizing the electricity grid, weatherizing homes to decrease energy loss, and stimulate the use of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar engergies. This stimulus package also focuses on renewing investments in science and technology as well as funding for reasearch in many fields of science including medicine and alternative fuels which will encourage advances in many areas of science and also reintroduce the U.S. as a leader in technology. Some critics feel as though not enough money is being spent in these areas. The billions of dollars that are being poured into these programs will not be enough for these programs to function as they should. For example, the bill only set aside $11 billion for the modernization of the electricity grid, when Al Gore proposed that $400 billion should have been set aside. Others feel as though this money is being wasted. They do not feel confident that these programs will bring the results that are expected or that this money should be spent on the other areas that the bill adresses. The energy portion of this bill will also attempt to address the issue of unemployment by creating millions of jobs through the programs that it intends to fund and invest in. Many believe that the only way to really gauge the effectiveness of this bill is wait and see what will happen.

Sources: NPR.org, speaker.gov, ecogeek.org I trust these article sources because they come from news sites, government sites and an interest group website which are all relatively good, reliable sources of information. However, they are not free from bias, which is why both sides of the argument were necessary to research. Infomation added by Sayuri Higa

The stimulus package includes quite a sufficient amount of money being put towards energy. Some parts of the bill are focused at developing new energy systems while others are aimed at making the current energy system more effecient. Total there is $41 billion going towards energy included in the bill. Many people say that is no where near enough money and that the bill is simply a waste. Critics feel that the jump towards a completely "green" country is a huge task and should be taken very seriously. It is definatly a necasary push forward for this country. The United States will not last if it continues to run on its current energy system. Few others say that the bill includes too much money being put towards energy. They may feel that the money going into energy could better the economy going into something else. The $41 billion is going to various places and will be distributed evenly. The two biggest changes the bill will force are the modernizing of our entire electric grid nation wide, and the research and development of alternative fuels and renewable sources of energy. Obama's office believes that they can make this country cleaner by finding new sources of energy. The bill will also create many jobs in different fields and hopefully help the unemployment rate from dropping.

Sources: speaker.gov, propublica.org, CNN.com I believe these to be valid sources with correct information. The only .com is a news site that is very trusted in credibility. -Info added by Grant Frevert

As previousily mentioned the goal of this part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to help stablize and improve the current economic status through the sector of Energy (Enviormental Sciences and Technologies). In order to do this the government has broken down this catagory into several different sections. The first is through the Research and development of alterniative fuels. This includes the development and expansion of alterniative energy sources that include Wind, Solar and Hybrid technologies. Also the reasearch and development of biofuels and the development of clean burning fossil fuels fall into this catagory. The next catagory is Enviomental clean up and Energy Grid modernization. This section includes a multitude of diffrent actions that are to be taken. It is set that 75% of all federal buidings and courthouses will become wetherizied and turned into "Efficent Green" bulidings by 2015. In accordance with this a substancial sum of the money passed will go to provide weatherization assistance to buildings and homes in the private sector. Continuing under this section is the modernization of the energy grid through the aspects of energy reliability and delivery. It is also planned that areas deemed polluted and contaminated within the US will undergo decontamination and clean up proscesses. This includes a large amount of areas that have uranium contamination. The last sector which is vaugly described as "Science" by the ARRA includes funding for such organizations as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) along with a program that will provide a nation wirreless communications network for police and fire rescue forces. It is estimated that in the next year these actions will provide over 450,000 new jobs across the nation. Below is a break down on the spending the act will provide.

$43, 313,300,000**
 * Research & Development**:
 * 16.8 billion dollars for research and development of alternative and renewable energy sources.
 * 4.5 billion dollars for the weatherization of federal buildings.
 * 5.6 billion dollars for the weatherization of private buildings.
 * 2.6 billion dollars for the research and development of advanced batteries and hybrid technologies.
 * 3.4 billion dollars for research and development of clean burning fossil fuels.
 * 3.2 billion dollars for funding of the Energy Efficency and Block Grants (Energy Independence Act of 2007).
 * Enviormental Clean Up & Decontamination:**
 * 483 million dollars for the clean up of polluted and contaminated areas.
 * 390 million dollars for the specialized clean up and decontamination.
 * 4.6 billion dollars for the modernization of the energy grid.
 * Science:**
 * 4.6 billion dollars to be divide among NASA and NOAA for funding.
 * 600 million dollars to build a wireless communications network for police and fire rescue forces nationwide.
 * Total Amount:

Sources: whitehouse.gov, doe.gov, npr.org I trust that all my sources are bort crediable and accurate with their information. The first two are government run agencies and most of my information was taken directily off of the ARRA itself which i found as a .pdf doucment off of whitehouse.gov. The last source is a very crediable news source which you suggested to us. - Information Added By Kris Kuit