Technology CEOs Urge U.S. to Double Funding for Basic Energy Research, Create New Energy Innovation Agency

Over the next few years, public policies that support innovation in alternative energy will determine whether or not the United States will successfully make the transition to clean and renewable energy, TechNet reports. The pro-innovation group, whose membership includes top executives from more than 115 tech firms, believes the move away from nonrenewable sources of electricity and fuel will require timely, active support from federal and state government. TechNet issued an agenda last week that would focus national attention on expanding policies that encourage the development and adoption of sustainable technologies. TechNet argues that the race for practical alternative energy solutions represents a unique opportunity for U.S. competitiveness. By supporting new energy technologies, the U.S. could not only improve its competitive standing, but also create a solution to growing energy consumption, reduce the country's energy dependence on the Middle East, and slow the pace of global warming.

 

The TechNet agenda calls for doubling federal funding for basic energy research to keep pace with the rate of private investment in late-stage development and commercialization. In 2006, North American private venture investment in the clean technology sector reached $2.9 billion, an 80 percent increase over the previous year. Federal funding for basic and applied energy R&D, however, fell 60 percent in real dollars between 1978 and 2004, according to TechNet and the National Commission on Energy Policy. This level of funding may not be sufficient to produce a steady stream of promising technologies for the marketplace. The agenda recommends a stronger federal focus on basic research, as well as technology demonstration and commercialization initiatives. This funding should be spread out across a portfolio of renewable energy possibilities, including both near- and longer-term technologies.

 

The agenda also recommends the federal government create a National Institute of Energy, as a lead organization for energy research based on the structures of other federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. This agency would identify and fund a wide range of basic energy research projects, and encourage the commercialization of promising technologies. Having a single agency in charge of these activities would focus federal spending on energy research and help to ensure that federal R&D complements private sector investments. Such an agency could help to promote partnerships and consortia among universities, industry and federal laboratories that carry out alternative energy research.

 

Other recommendations from the agenda include:

• Technology-neutral tax incentives based on performance-based criteria, including minimum efficiency standards, reduced emissions, or reduced dependence on petroleum;
• Federal and state adoption of technology-neutral renewable portfolio standards;
• Creation of a market-based national cap and trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions; and,
• A TechNet-led, private sector initiative to collect and distribute clean energy best practices.

Read Green Technologies: An Innovation Agenda for America at: http://www.technet.org/resources/GreenTechReport.pdf



Links to this report and more than 4,500 additional TBED-related research reports, strategic plans and other papers also can be found at the Tech-based Economic Development (TBED) Resource Center, jointly developed by the Technology Administration and SSTI, at http://www.tbedresourcecenter.org/.



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