Last week, the White House rolled out an ambitious plan to reorganize the federal government that would consolidate several energy and environmental programs, including one that has a direct effect on the door and window industry.
The administration’s 132-page plan, Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century, would create a new Office of Energy Innovation in the Department of Energy (DOE). It would include the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which conducts research into energy-efficient windows. According to its mission statement, ARPA-E “advances high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment … developing entirely new ways to generate, store and use energy.”
“While the (ARPA-E) program features positive aspects, such as coordination with industry and cross-cutting research, it makes little strategic sense that this entity exists independent of DOE’s main applied research programs,” the proposal reads. “Revitalizing DOE’s applied energy R&D in this manner also provides the opportunity to integrate the positive attributes of ARPA-E into DOE’s core energy research rather than it being a wholly independent program.”
ARPA-E’s SHIELD (Single-Pane Highly Insulating Efficient Lucid Designs) program is currently funding 14 projects that focus on fenestration products that can be applied to existing single-pane windows; manufactured windowpanes that can be installed into an existing window sash; and other technologies that can enable products in the first two categories. Project grants range from $3 million to $750,000.
The White House’s 2019 budget proposal called for the elimination of the ARPA-E program, but both the Senate and House versions of the budget bill would preserve the program. The House version seeks to cut its funding by 8 percent, while the Senate version would boost ARPA-E funding by 6.5 percent.