Useful Stats: Department of Energy R&D Obligations per State 2001-2005

Looking at historical energy obligations is not a crystal ball for the future, particularly as newer, alternative energies take on increased importance. However, historical spending does show where some of the infrastructure is in place to support an initial surge in energy research spending.  Just as some states were better positioned to capture the early increases in biomedical research spending when the research budget doubled for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there will most likely be early winners in an Energy R&D blitz as well.

SSTI has prepared a table displaying the amount of R&D obligations from the Department of Energy for each state from 2001 to 2005, the most recent years available. The table also tracks the percentage of each state's total federal R&D obligations that originated from the DOE. This statistic shows the critical importance of energy research for some states, or for states with large amounts of federal R&D coming in, the degree of diversification in the state's R&D portfolio.

For the U.S. as a whole, DOE R&D obligations increased every year, rising from $6.67 billion in 2001 to $7.73 billion in 2005. However, as a percentage of total federal obligations dedicated to R&D, the DOE's percentage steadily declined over that same period, from 8.5 percent in 2001 to 7.2 percent in 2005.

Whereas the NIH facilities are heavily concentrated in Bethesda, MD, the Department of Energy labs, while fewer in number, are more widely scattered across the country and, in some cases, were selected for geophysical or demographic considerations because of the nature of their work.

With Sandia and Los Alamos labs, New Mexico led the country with $1.97 billion from the DOE in 2005, just over one-quarter of all DOE R&D obligations. This was followed by California with $1.54 billion, New York at $657 million, Illinois at $597 million, and Tennessee at $470 million. These five states alone accounted for 68 percent of the DOE's total obligations in 2005.

For each year from 2001 to 2005, Idaho had at least 61 percent of their total federal R&D obligations coming from the DOE. Over this same period, New Mexico had at least 60 percent every year from the Energy Department. In a similar fashion, Nevada's percentage didn't dip below 58 percent, Tennessee percentages were consistently above 36 percent, and Illinois' shares of federal R&D from the DOE were always higher than 29 percent.

On the other end of the scale, there were 20 states from 2001 to 2005 where DOE R&D obligations did not exceed 2 percent of the state's total federal R&D obligations.

From a policy perspective, some states were able to improve their NIH standings with strategic investments in their research universities and companies. Similar approaches may be useful for energy-related research, should the 2010 budget request reflect heightened importance for the sector. In interpreting the data, states should note that all federally funded energy research does not originate in the Energy Department.