The new Energy bill signed by President Bush emphasizes the need for greater energy efficiency and promoting alternative fuel technology.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory engineer Johnny Green says the bill will help Oak Ridge to enhance ethanol and diesel technologies.
"Some of the research that we're looking at is seeing how you can use some of the properties of ethanol and optimize the engines more for ethanol than for gasoline," Green says. "In terms of clean diesel technologies, a lot of the work that we're doing is associated with making sure that the technologies to clean the pollutants for diesel engines are cost effective."
Oak Ridge's Ed Vineyard says the laboratory's efforts to improve the energy efficiency of home appliances will also be boosted.
"Instead of just having a stand-alone refrigerator, heat pump and dishwasher taking the wasted energy stream off all these appliances, start to combine them closer in the residence or building where you don't lose a lot of waste heat or you can actually capture that wasted heat and use it usefully for water heating and things like that," Vineyard says.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.