Energy R&D

The Energy Department's (DOE) applied research and development programs support the development (R&D) of technologies that achieve national energy objectives, such as securing future energy supplies. In fiscal year 1995, DOE received about $1.65 billion--nearly 10 percent of its overall budget--for applied R&D programs. Members of Congress and the Congressional Budget Office have raised concerns about whether the federal investment in these programs is cost-effective. In response, DOE last year published its Success Stories report, which describes 61 technologies developed by its applied R&D programs, highlighting the measurable economic benefits, such as energy savings, produced by each technology. Success Stories makes some valid claims about the benefits of DOE applied research. However, GAO found problems with the analyses used to support the benefits DOE had cited in 11 out of 15 cases GAO reviewed. The problems ranged from basic mathematical errors to unsupported links between the benefits cited and DOE role. Although DOE applied R&D programs do produce some benefits, GAO does not believe that the report can be used to assess the effectiveness of such programs overall because it describes the "successes" of a very small percentage of the programs that DOE has funded. In addition, Success Stories does not report how much DOE spent to support any of the technologies GAO evaluated.