A Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the federal government used $15.8 billion in tax preferences to support the development, manufacture and utilization of energy and fuel technologies in fiscal year 2015.
CBO said Wednesday that it also found changes in the composition of energy-associated tax preferences since 2005.
According to the agency, an increasing share of tax preferences has been directed from oil and natural gas producers toward companies that produce energy derived from renewable sources such as sun and wind since 2005.
Inflation-adjusted tax preferences also rose to $25.4 billion in 2012, up from $4.9 billion in 2004.
CBO also estimates the Energy Department spent $5.4 billion on research and development programs for new energy technologies in FY 2015.
The agency also found that no new funds were spent on loans or loan guarantees for energy tech developments based on DOE’s 2015 funding.
The CBO report also includes an analysis on the effect of federal support for energy programs on domestic oil production, greenhouse gas emissions and R&D efforts in the energy sector.
