	Introduction

		Cumulative Funding History

This report provides a cumulative history of Department of Energy (DOE) funding for renewable energy compared with funding for the other energy technologies—nuclear energy, fossil energy, energy efficiency, and electric systems. Figure 3 provides a similar chart for the period from FY1978 through FY2018. Another energy-related factor was the application of research and development (R&D) to the atomic bomb (Manhattan Project) and other military technologies. During the post-World War II era, the federal government began to apply R&D to the peacetime development of energy sources to support economic growth. All of the energy R&D programs—fossil, nuclear, renewable, and energy efficiency—were brought under its administration. Total spending on fossil energy technologies over that period amounted to about $17.1 billion, in constant FY2016 dollars. The energy crises of the 1970s spurred the federal government to expand its R&D programs to include renewable (wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydro) energy and energy efficiency technologies.
Energy-related research and development (R&D)—on coal-based synthetic petroleum and on atomic bombs—played an important role in the successful outcome of World War II. In the postwar era, the federal government conducted R&D on fossil and nuclear energy sources to support peacetime economic growth. The energy crises of the 1970s spurred the government to broaden the focus to include renewable energy and energy efficiency. Over the 41-year period from the Department of Energy's (DOE's) inception at the beginning of FY1978 through FY2018, federal funding for renewable energy R&D amounted to about 18% of the energy R&D total, compared with 6% for electric systems, 16% for energy efficiency, 24% for fossil, and 37% for nuclear. For the 71-year period from 1948 through 2018, nearly 13% went to renewables, compared with nearly 5% for electric systems, 11% for energy efficiency, 24% for fossil, and 48% for nuclear.