The Department of Energy’s $26.4 billion budget blueprint significantly increases funding for efficiency and alternative energy technologies and adds money for energy storage and grid modernization. At the same time, it axes funding for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump in Nevada and hydrogen fuel cell technologies. DOE’s 2010 budget proposal, released at the end of last week, increases the energy efficiency and alternative power resources budget to $2.3 billion. That includes an 83 percent boost in funding for solar power research and development--from $175 million last year to $320 in the upcoming budget cycle. Wind energy funding rises to $75 million from $55 million and geothermal energy funding to $50 million from $44 million in 2009. The spending plan includes $67 million for “smart grid’ research and development, which supplements the $4.5 billion in federal stimulus money. An advanced grid involves increased use of computerized grid components to allow for communication between utilities, grid managers, and customers. Energy storage to support the uneven flow of renewable technologies is allocated at $15 million and $50 million would go for cyber security of a high-tech grid to reduce the vulnerability to hacking. Previously, neither storage nor cyber security were funded by the department. The proposed upcoming energy efficiency budget is $671 million, with $238 million of that amount directed to conservation research and deployment in buildings. What DOE gives with one hand, however, it takes away with the other. Funding for hydrogen fuel cells was eliminated, with the budget for fuel cell technology advancement cut to $66 million from $169 million in 2009. There is a shift of focus to “technology neutral fuel cell systems for diverse applications” in power plants and other stationary sources as well as in transportation, stated the budget proposal. Also eliminated was money for the radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The administration “plans to convene a ‘blue ribbon’ panel of experts to evaluate alternatives for radioactive wastes,” according to the budget plan. Other projects slated for funding increases are ones aimed at capturing carbon emitted from power plants and storing it underground, as well as electric and hybrid vehicles. The budget specifically allocates: -$180 million for carbon capture and storage; -$333 million for alternative vehicles, with the largest increase going to electric and hybrid vehicles; -$636 million for climate change technology; and -$165 million for climate change science.