With the final seconds ticking down on the Congressional clock, President Obama and Senate Democrats emerged from a White House summit with Republican moderates Tuesday still lacking any plan to score a last minute win for clean energy.

Wasted opportunity

Establishing a price (any price) on carbon pollution through a(n increasingly weak) cap and trade system continues to be the the preferred climate and energy approach of environmental advocacy groups and Democratic leadership. This preference holds despite the fact that for at least three years, that plan has consistently failed to uncover any route to securing the sixty votes necessary for passage in the Senate (a similar bill narrowly passed the House last June).

Heading into the Tuesday morning White House summit, Republicans eyed as key swing votes for any clean energy or climate bill telegraphed clear intentions: cap and trade would be a practical non-starter, but they were ready to act with the President on measures to promote zero-carbon electricity, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and greater energy technology innovation, clean up dirty coal plants, and improve energy efficiency.

The summit offered President Obama a prime opportunity to reset the Senate energy debate by calling a new play: take up the energy provisions Republicans have offered, counter with a more aggressive proposal on similar fronts, and begin earnest negotiations with GOP swing votes to ensure passage of a final bill that could move America towards a clean energy economy before the Congressional clock expires.

Unfortunately, President Obama let this chance to break from the failed and increasingly desperate cap and trade agenda slip by, using the meeting, instead, to reiterate to the assembled Senators - and greens watching from the sidelines - that "he still believes the best way for us to transition to a clean energy economy is ... by putting a price on [carbon] pollution."

Continue reading "With Seconds on the Clock, Democrats May Waste Last Chance for Clean Energy Win" »

Just ten years into the second millennium, the U.S. finds itself in a situation complicated by a catastrophic oil spill dumping hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf, a badly wounded, if recovering, economy whose historic dominance is being ably challenged, and a growing demand for energy that must be produced without hastening the impacts of climate change. There is a growing consensus that energy innovation offers a pathway to the solutions for all of these challenges, but the White House and Congress seem flummoxed by what steps to take next. As TIME magazine's Bryan Walsh suggests in his latest cover story (subs. req'd) profiling the influence of Thomas Edison's innovative genius on the energy industry in the 20th century, it may be time to look to history for some guidance.

As Walsh explains, Edison "spent his career "inventing the century" - the 20th century." But he did not devise the inventions that gave birth to the electrical power industry (not to mention the recorded music and motion picture industries) in a vacuum. Instead, Edison's innovative potential was nurtured from a young age and as an adult, he continued to encourage his creativity by surrounding himself with others whose knowledge base could help him realize his ideas.

Continue reading "Inventing the 21st Century" »

By Teryn Norris & Clifton Yin
Published by The Huffington Post

When President Obama and key Senate leaders meet today to reach a compromise on energy and climate legislation, they should strongly consider increasing federal investment in clean energy technology to at least $15 billion annually. This is a comprehensive third way strategy to improve U.S. energy independence, economic competitiveness, and climate security, and it deserves bipartisan support.

We are a Democrat and Republican. One of us campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008, the other as a delegate for John McCain. One of us worked on energy and climate policy for the progressive Breakthrough Institute, while the other worked on similar issues for the conservative American Enterprise Institute. We disagree on a wide range of issues, and we hold different economic philosophies.

Despite our differences, we are strongly united behind a serious federal agenda for clean energy innovation. Regardless of the future of cap and trade, robust federal investment in clean energy technology can effectively tackle both energy and climate policy reform. In addition to reducing our oil addiction, it can help build new export-oriented and manufacturing-intensive industries, seize global market share, drive down the price of clean energy technologies, and accelerate the transition to a cleaner, low-carbon economy.

Continue reading "A Bipartisan Strategy for Energy Leadership" »

Breakthrough Senior Fellow Roger Pielke Jr. and co-editor Roberta Klein of the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado released a new book documenting the role of the presidential science adviser as well as the reflections of previous advisors, including those who served under Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

The two editors co-authored an essay critically analyzing what has become a controversial presidential position. The book also contains an introduction authored by Breakthrough Senior Fellow Dan Sarewitz.

You can read a brief overview of the book as well as preview the table of contents here.

An Energy-Independant Future has been "just beyond" our grasp for nearly thirty years. Jon Stewart nails it again as he chronicles the spin of the last eight presidents, whose successful contributions to the rhetoric of energy independence has been matched only by their failure to manifest its reality.

The White House has postponed a scheduled meeting with a group of bi-partisan Senators to discuss plans for comprehensive energy legislation, and while Republicans have made it clear they plan to unanimously block cap and trade, that may prove to be a good starting place for a non-controversial route forward centered on vehicle electrification, nuclear power and energy technology innovation.

As Politico reported:

Republicans also would press Obama to reach consensus on less aggressive energy options, including incentives for electrification of cars and trucks, more nuclear power and offshore oil and gas production, and research and development for low-carbon energy technologies.

The GOP has several "clean energy proposals which we are for and he's for too," [Sen. Lamar] Alexander said.

Although cap and trade efforts have consumed most of the legislative clock this year and there's dwindling time for any big plays, if Republicans are really willing to support a big technology push Democrats could have the bargaining chip they need to make some real progress, perhaps even mounting a more aggressive push into key technology areas - research and innovation, vehicle electrification, and accelerated deployment of clean electricity sources. This type of bipartisan effort would not be the "comprehensive" solution to our nation's multifold energy and climate challenges, but it would prime the Congressional pump for a greater bipartisan collaboration in 2011...or so one could hope.

Cross-posted from Americans for Energy Leadership

By Sydney Baloue

Last week, IEEE USA and GridWise Alliance wrote a joint open letter urging U.S. Senator Alexander (R-TN) to support RE-ENERGYSE, a Department of Energy and National Science Foundation strategic partnership that would establish the nation's first comprehensive federal program for clean energy science and engineering education. Senator Alexander is a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development, which will decide if RE-ENERGYSE gets appropriated or not.

Continue reading "IEEE and GridWise Urge Senator on RE-ENERGYSE" »

Now that Obama has officially opened the door to alternatives to the conventional cap and trade framework, Congressional Democrats are finally willing to admit the policy is dead and focus on finding an economically and politically viable Plan B.

According to E&E (subs. req'd), efforts to formulate that Plan B have just begun and are as yet indecisive. One thing, however, is now clear:

Senate Democrats may have emerged from their much-hyped caucus meeting without a clear plan for this summer's energy bill, but they appeared to agree on one point: Cap and trade doesn't have the votes...

It is unclear whether Obama and Senate Democratic leadership intend to push aggressively for cap and trade or any mechanism to price carbon this year. Obama failed to call for it directly in his Oval Office address this week and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday declined to promise to include a price on carbon in an energy package slated for floor debate next month.

Reid said yesterday that his goals for energy legislation are dealing with the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, creating jobs and cutting pollution. "There are many strong passions and arguments about the best way to achieve these goals," Reid said yesterday after the Democratic caucus met to discuss an energy bill. "And I'm always focused on what is possible."

...

Democrats hope that another caucus meeting slated for next week will help push them closer to a consensus about how to proceed...

"Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, people will come together and come up with a comprehensive plan," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). "There's a lot of hurdles to be jumped."

With time now short in the Congressional calendar this year, it is unlikely that Congress will implement a comprehensive response to our nation's multifold energy and climate challenges. But as the failed cap and trade framework falls away, space is now opening for new and productive ways forward.

Cap and trade didn't make the cut in President Obama's address to the nation earlier this week regarding the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill.

As Breakthrough Senior Advisor Teryn Norris noted:

Instead of using last night's prime-time opportunity to push cap and trade in the form of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act -- as many climate advocates saw as their last hope for "comprehensive" climate reform -- President Obama pressed the reset button on energy and climate policy, saying he was "happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party, as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels." He made no mention of setting a price on carbon or establishing an emissions cap and trade system.

The omission has the blogosphere abuzz, and while some criticized other glaring omissions, overwhelmingly pundits and analysts recognize that Obama actualized the writing that has been on the wall for the last few months - cap and trade is dead and it is time to focus on a powerfully viable alternative.

Below are some of the many voices who are adding to the consensus:

Continue reading "Cap and Trade: Dead to Obama" »

For Breakthrough Institute's full collection of analysis of Congressional climate legislation, see here.

Published analysis in chronological order (most recent first):

• The Power to Compete: Benchmarking the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act on Clean Energy Innovation and Competitiveness - June 9, 2010

Continue reading "Analysis of Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act Climate Bill: Full Breakthrough Institute Collection" »

By Teryn Norris
Cross-posted from Americans for Energy Leadership

The biggest news from President Obama's Oval Office address is that cap and trade legislation is probably dead for the foreseeable future, and the administration is seeking new ideas.

Instead of using last night's prime-time opportunity to push cap and trade in the form of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act -- as many climate advocates saw as their last hope for "comprehensive" climate reform -- President Obama pressed the reset button on energy and climate policy, saying he was "happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party, as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels." He made no mention of setting a price on carbon or establishing an emissions cap and trade system.

As Andrew Revkin observed at New York Times Dot Earth, the president "signaled that he is leaving open a variety of paths on energy and climate policy and no longer hewing tightly to the idea of a cap and trade system for restricting heat-trapping emissions -- which he never wavered from during his campaign." David Roberts of Grist, one of the few remaining hopefuls for cap and trade reform, wrote "Final thought: Obama didn't drive the carbon cap tonight, so there won't be a carbon cap in the energy bill this year."

Continue reading "Obama Signals Need for New Energy Agenda" »

In The Field Aden taking a moment to think on a recent trip to Kenya where she helped organize a meeting for Acumen Fund.

Aden was the Breakthrough Institute's first intern and helped formulate the idea for Breakthrough Generation. Aden is deeply engaged in development issues, particularly at the intersection of energy and poverty. Today, she is a Portfolio Associate at the Acumen Fund, a global venture fund that uses market-oriented approaches to deliver critical goods and services in developing countries.

How did you get involved with the Breakthrough Institute?

As a freshman in college, I read "The Death of Environmentalism" in an Introduction to Environmental Studies course. It really spoke to me so I contacted Michael and Ted. Three notes later Michael explained that they didn't take interns but he was willing to have a short call. On the call, I told him why I wanted to work there and why I thought their framework was so compelling. Michael agreed to give me the opportunity to be an intern and I started in the summer in 2006, researching everything from the relationship between income and happiness to perceptions of teenage pregnancy for the book, Break Through. I came back to Breakthrough for a second summer, this time with Teryn Norris, because the experience was so unique and engaging. We spent most of the summer on "Fast Clean & Cheap: Cutting Global Warming's Gordian Knot" until we had the vision for Breakthrough Generation and convinced Michael and Ted to let us try it.

Thinking back to the difference between now -- when the fellows double the size of the office -- and when I called Michael in 2006, it's great to see the progression of young people contributing to this organization and this field.

Continue reading "Fellow of the Month: Aden Van Noppen" »

Cross-posted from Roger Pielke Jr's Blog

The graph above shows the proportion of global fossil fuel consumption that comes from coal, gas and oil. The data comes from the 2010 Statistical Review of World Energy from BP. Contrary to some claims, we are not nearly at the twilight of the coal industry. In fact, coal accounts for a greater share of global fossil fuel consumption than it has since 1969!

It comes as no surprise that a broad-based coalition of activists are calling the bluff of 19 companies earning carbon offset credits through the Carbon Development Mechanism created by the Kyoto Protocol. The activists accuse the companies, based largely in China and India, of creating greenhouse gas emissions for the sole purpose of earning credits from destroying them.

According to a review by E&E News (subs. Req'd):

"Sometimes they produce gas just to burn it and get some CDM money, and it's not at all an honest way of behaving," said Chaim Nissim, an engineer with Noe21, a Geneva-based climate change advocacy organization that has researched carbon offsetting projects at industrial gas companies.

"It's fake," Nissim said.

CDM officials say they are investigating the allegations...

With countries still unable to negotiate a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol, the future of the entire CDM is in limbo. No one could say what it meant for the carbon market as a whole if it is indeed determined that one third of the whole volume of CERs don't represent any actually abated or avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

Continue reading "Carbon Offsets Fraud Continues" »

At Dot Earth, Andrew Revkin discusses why we should stop waiting for the "fog of misinformation and disinformation on climate" to dissipate from the public mindset and instead focus on the developing "energy consensus" that we need clean, cheap energy to meet the expanding energy needs of quickly growing global population.

As Revkin puts it:

Reflecting on lawmakers' struggles over climate bills through most of the last decade, it seems clear that insistence on comprehensive one-step legislation including firm, declining caps on emissions from the get-go -- before building confidence and momentum around the new direction -- is a path to nowhere...

Given the stasis in the Senate, even with the "external" costs of fossil fuels on glaring display in the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time to start listening more to those proposing this more stepwise route forward. Such an approach would better reflect an unbending reality: A quest for new energy choices that advance human lives while limiting conflict and climate risks will require sustained work by a generation or more -- not just one Congress or president.

Cross-posted from Roger Pielke Jr's Blog.

The Financial Times has a realistic and sobering article [subs. req'd] on the state on international climate negotiations:

Christiana Figueres startled delegates when she addressed the United Nations climate conference in Bonn last week: "I do not believe we will ever have a final agreement on climate change, certainly not in my lifetime," the Costa Rican diplomat told them. "If we ever have a final, conclusive, all-answering agreement, then we will have solved this problem. I don't think that's on the cards." Addressing the issue successfully would "require the sustained effort of those who will be here for the next 20, 30, 40 years".

Her words count, and not only because of her 15-year involvement in tackling global warming. Next month, Ms Figueres takes over from the Netherlands' Yvo de Boer as executive secretary of the UN's climate change secretariat, based in the former west German capital.

As Bonn's low, heavy skies pelted delegates with rain, much of the rest of the talk during the long sessions was of technical matters such as the measurement of greenhouse gases. But in quiet conversations in the corridors, in cafes over hurried coffees or while scurrying between thunderstorms, the deeper question some officials were asking was whether there was indeed any point in continuing with this type of negotiation, which had failed for 20 years. Could the UN climate talks be reformed - or were they just too broken to fix?

Continue reading "Realpolitik Goes Mainstream" »

Eight universities and think tanks have all converged on four policy principles to enhance technology innovation in the effort to mitigate climate change, says a new report released earlier this week by the Clean Air Task Force and the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes (CSPO) at Arizona State University.

The report, "Four Policy Principles for Energy Innovation & Climate Change: A Synthesis" (PDF) combined the recommendations made in eight studies conducted by universities like Harvard and MIT as well as think tanks like the Brookings Institution and the National Commission on Energy Policy to create the following four policy principles:

1. Recognize that innovation policy is more than R&D policy

2. Pursue multiple innovation pathways

3. Recognize CO2 reduction as a public good, and pursue energy innovation through a public works model.

4. Encourage collaboration on energy innovation with rapidly industrializing countries.

Daniel Sarewitz, CSPO co-director and Breakthrough Senior Fellow, commented on the report:

Despite the independence of the teams, we found remarkable convergence on some very basic principles that should guide the design of workable, comprehensive clean energy innovation policies. Key among them is that we are going to have to deploy lots of real stuff at a large scale in the field - and not just in the lab - to innovate our way toward a solution. That's not going to be cheap, but it is going to be worth it. We need to start yesterday.

The report is one of four reports released this month calling for a strengthened, robust commitment to U.S. clean tech innovation policy. The Breakthrough Institute co-released two of those reports -- one arguing that Congress must support legislation to improve U.S. clean tech competitiveness and the other demonstrating that the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act would increase energy R&D funding by as little as $2.2 billion per year. The third, a report released by the new American Energy Innovation Council, called for a tripling of public investment in clean energy R&D.

Update (6/30/10): Andrew Revkin highlighted the ITIF report today on his blog, Dot Earth, noting that "the report is a healthy challenge to anyone, including me, with ingrained views on how to propel an "energy quest." Breakthrough has consistently worked to debunk many of the myths highlighted in ITIF's report. For additional reading, click the links in the list below.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has released a new report dismantling the top ten myths in the climate change debate, including the claim that "we have all the technologies we need" and that carbon prices are enough to drive a transition to a clean energy economy. The full report is well worth the read, but here's a summary from ITIF:

The debate on policy responses to climate change is fueled by myths ranging from assumptions that high carbon taxes will alter behavior significantly to overconfidence that green energy is poised to restore our economic prosperity overnight. What's more, many analysts are glossing over the complexity and possible unfairness of cap-and-trade and underestimating just how big a dent we have to make in our greenhouse gas production. What is missing is an understanding that innovation in the energy sector is essential to the transformation in how we produce and consume energy that we want and need. ITIF dismantles the top ten myths in this debate in a new report.

1. Higher prices on greenhouse gases are enough to drive the transition to a clean economy.
2. The U.S. can make major contributions to solving climate change on its own.
3. Cap-and-trade is a sustainable global solution.
4. We don't need innovation; we have all the technology we need.
5. Low growth is the answer...just live simply.
6. "Insulation is enough" (e.g. energy efficiency will save us).
7. Information technology (IT) is a significant contributor to climate change.
8. Going green is green (e.g., it makes economic sense to go green).
9. We are world leaders on the green economy, and it's ours for the taking.
10. Foreign green mercantilism is good for solving climate change (and good for the U.S.).

See also:

• "Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant: Report Overview"


• "Strengthening Clean Energy Competitiveness"

The majority of Americans do believe that Earth's climate is warming and they want the government to take action, according to Stanford Professor Jon Krosnick and his Political Psychology Research Group, but they still don't want to pay higher taxes. These findings echo Breakthrough's own social values research demonstrating strong public support for large-scale federal investment in clean energy R&D and greater support for carbon limits when they are coupled with policies, like public investment, that make clean energy cheaper.

Krosnick writes in the New York Times:

Fully 86 percent of our respondents said they wanted the federal government to limit the amount of air pollution that businesses emit, and 76 percent favored government limiting business's emissions of greenhouse gases in particular. Not a majority of 55 or 60 percent -- but 76 percent. Large majorities opposed taxes on electricity (78 percent) and gasoline (72 percent) to reduce consumption. But 84 percent favored the federal government offering tax breaks to encourage utilities to make more electricity from water, wind and solar power. And huge majorities favored government requiring, or offering tax breaks to encourage, each of the following: manufacturing cars that use less gasoline (81 percent); manufacturing appliances that use less electricity (80 percent); and building homes and office buildings that require less energy to heat and cool (80 percent). Thus, there is plenty of agreement about what people do and do not want government to do.

Continue reading "Public Still Believes in Climate Change " »

While the United States argues over failed cap and trade legislation, China continues to think strategically about developing new clean energy industries. In this week's installment of "China dominating the U.S. in the clean energy race": Electric Vehicles.

Via Automotive News China:

The central government's real goal is to help key domestic automakers leapfrog their foreign competitors in the race to develop advanced powertrains.

According to China specialist G.E. Anderson, China is less concerned about the proliferation of EVs in China than the proliferation of Chinese EVs around the world. This is why the cities that China has chosen for its pilot EV consumer subsidy scheme are all cities that have automotive companies with EVs and hybrids that will soon be brought to market.

Somebody should probably wake the Sleeping Giant.

Citing stagnant investments in clean energy research and deteriorating competitiveness in the global clean energy industry, a diverse group of CEOs and business leaders released a new report calling on the U.S. federal government to increase public investments in clean energy research and development to at least $16 billion annually--more than triple the current level of investment.

The new report, "A Business Plan for America's Energy Future," comes a day after the Breakthrough Institute released a new analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act (APA) which found that the legislation would only increase funding for clean energy R&D and demonstration by as little as $2.2 billion per year.

The executives--including Bill Gates, Jeff Immelt of GE, and Chad Holliday, the former CEO of Dupont--have formed a new organization called the American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC), and introduced a five-point plan for securing America's clean energy future through major investments in clean energy innovation. They recommend creating an independent Energy Strategy Board charged with developing a coherent National Energy Plan for the United States, creating and funding regional Centers of Excellence to accelerate the pace of clean energy innovation, increasing funding for DOE's ARPA-E to $ 1 billion annually, and creating an independent, public-private corporation to accelerate the commercialization of new energy technologies, such as fourth generation nuclear power plants and CCS coal plants.

But none of these recommendations matter much, according to the executives, unless the United States dramatically boosts investments in clean energy research:

"If this recommendation is not adopted, the others will not do much good. Incrementalism will neither fill the gaps, nor create the sweeping change this nation needs in energy. Bold action is required. Numerous groups, from the National Academy of Sciences to the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, have studied energy innovation spending; all agree that large increases are necessary."

Continue reading "U.S. High-Tech Leaders Call for Tripling U.S. Public Investment in Energy Research and Development" »

PRESS CONTACT:
Teryn Norris (510-593-3716)
norris@leadenergy.org

Jesse Jenkins (503-333-1737)
jesse@thebreakthrough.org

A new policy brief released today by the Breakthrough Institute and Americans for Energy Leadership provides the first independent analysis of how the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act would impact U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy industry, benchmarking its provisions against key policy components for technological innovation and industrial development in the low-carbon power and transportation sectors.

The policy brief, titled "The Power to Compete: Analysis of Key Clean Energy Technology and Competitiveness Provisions in the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act of 2010," assesses the proposal's key technology provisions, including research and innovation, manufacturing, and domestic market demand -- the central pillars of a national clean energy competitiveness strategy -- as well as supportive mechanisms in infrastructure, workforce development, and industry cluster formation.

Download Full Briefing (PDF, 2.3 MB)

Federal energy policy has become a primary U.S. national priority in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and amidst the ongoing Senate debate over comprehensive climate and energy reform. The May 2010 release of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act (APA) currently represents the flagship proposal for comprehensive reform in the Senate, and its future within the context of broader energy legislation will be determined in the weeks ahead.

The renewed urgency for energy reform arrives among growing national concern that the United States is falling behind its competitors in the growing clean energy industry. Thus, in addition to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, one of the core objectives of the Kerry-Lieberman proposal is to enhance U.S. competitiveness in clean energy technology markets. As Senator Kerry declared in the opening of the APA release press conference, "The bill that we are introducing today and revealing today, the American Power Act, will restore America's economy and reassert our position as a global leader in clean energy technology."

Continue reading "The Power to Compete: Benchmarking the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act on Clean Energy Innovation and Competitiveness" »

Not only did Lindsey Graham (R-SC) withdraw from talks surrounding a climate and energy bill eventually released by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in early May, yesterday he announced that he wouldn't vote for the legislation should Kerry and Lieberman successfully bring it to the Senate floor.

Graham cited disagreement over added restrictions on offshore drilling and doubt that the bill could ever get 60 votes on the Senate floor.

According to coverage by the National Journal (subs. req'd):

"What I have withdrawn from is a bill that basically restricts drilling in a way that is never going to happen in the future," Graham said. "I wanted it to safely occur in the future; I don't want to take it off the table."...

He said he will offer up later this year a "hodgepodge of ideas out there that I think form a potential pathway forward."

This includes introducing as early as this week a "clean energy" production standard that would include a "more aggressive definition of biomass" and give nuclear power the "same standing as other alternative energy sources." The standard needs to be higher to make these sources more deployable and financially attractive, he added.

Graham's announcement is likely the last nail in the coffin for cap and trade this year.

Applied Materials--the Silicon Valley giant and world's largest manufacturer of the equipment used to make solar cells--is out with a great endorsement of our new report, co-authored with the Brookings Institution and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), calling on Congress to strengthen U.S. clean energy competitiveness through the reauthorization of America COMPETES.

In the report, we call on Congress to:

• Invest in a new generation of clean scientists and engineers


• Invest in increasing funding for clean energy R&D at existing agencies and in new innovative programs like Energy Frontier Research Centers, DOE Innovation Hubs, and ARPA-E


• Extend the R&D and advanced clean energy manufacturing tax credits


• Support American clean energy manufacturers with a new industrial innovation institute, new clean energy supply chain initiatives, and low-cost financing to help US manufacturers retool for the clean economy


• Spur the development of clean energy industry clusters by funding new regional cluster initiatives and clean energy research consortia

These policies are increasingly urgent as our economic competitors continue to outpace us in the growing clean energy industry.

Applied Materials certainly stands behind these policy recommendations and is hopeful that Congress will act swiftly and appropriately to ensure that America regains its competitive edge.

It's time for the Senate to act.

See also:

• "Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant: Report Overview"
• "Strengthening Clean Energy Competitiveness: Opportunities for America COMPETES Reauthorization"

Cross posted from the ABC (Australia Broadcasting Company)

By Leigh Ewbank, Breakthrough Fellow

RECENTLY, THE AUSTRALIAN Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) released Creating Jobs - Cutting Pollution, a new report that investigates how reducing our carbon dioxide output will benefit the Australian economy. Not surprisingly for me, the report finds that our transition to a clean energy economy yields excellent job-creation prospects for Australia. But amid this positive economic forecast is a framing of climate change that has several limitations and implications for policy.

Creating Jobs - Cutting Pollution (pdf) frames climate change as a pollution problem. This frame is consistent with the title of the Rudd government's chief climate change policy, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, and is a dominant way of communicating the problem of climate change in Australia.

The pollution frame shows how we understand, or in this case misunderstand, the phenomenon. What is meant by pollution in the context of climate change? Does the same language used for sewage overflows, chemical leaks, and oil spills adequately communicate the steps needed to address the challenge?

Continue reading "Why CO2 should not be considered pollution" »

By Jesse Jenkins, Mark Muro, and Rob Atkinson, originally at the New Republic

Having passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 28th, the America COMPETES Act, America's flagship competitiveness legislation, will soon be debated in the U.S. Senate. The Act was originally passed in 2007 in response to mounting concern that the United States was failing to effectively compete economically with other nations, imperiling the nation's future prosperity.

Now, a new outbreak of anxiety has engulfed the nation's competitive standing particularly as regards the nation's fledgling clean energy industry. Presently, the United States lacks an effective strategy to compete in this high-growth industry, which is expected to surpass $600 billion globally by 2020. Fortunately, the America COMPETES reauthorization offers a key opportunity for Congress to strengthen U.S. clean energy competitiveness.

At this critical moment, three think tanks--the Breakthrough Institute, Brookings Metro Program and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)--have released a new policy report calling on Congress to extend the America COMPETES Act and enact a comprehensive set of investments in clean energy technology and embrace bold new paradigms in education, research, production and manufacturing.

Continue reading "Clean Energy COMPETES: Strengthening Clean Energy Competitiveness through the America COMPETES Reauthorization" »

PRESS CONTACT:
Jesse Jenkins (503-333-1737)
jesse@thebreakthrough.org

Darrene Hackler (202-626-5720)
dhackler@itif.org

In response to numerous reports documenting a sharp decline in U.S. clean energy competitiveness, experts at three leading U.S. think tanks have issued a new policy report calling on Congress to strengthen U.S. innovation and competitiveness policies in this key industry through the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act. The report, "Strengthening Clean Energy Competitiveness: Opportunities for America COMPETES Reauthorization," was released today by the Breakthrough Institute, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program.

Congress first passed this flagship competitiveness legislation in 2007 in response to concerns that the United States was losing its ability to compete economically with other nations. On May 28, 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the COMPETES reauthorization by a vote of 262-150 and the bill is set to be debated in the Senate. The reauthorization comes at a time when the United States seeks new sources of growth in a fiscally constrained environment. The clean energy market is one such growth industry--expected to surpass $600 billion by 2020--but the U.S. faces unprecedented global competition.

In "Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant," an authoritative report on international clean energy competitiveness, the Breakthrough Institute and ITIF recently demonstrated how U.S. leadership on a number of clean energy competitiveness metrics has declined in the last decade. The United States' historic lead in energy innovation is slipping as other countries implement national innovation strategies. America now lags economic competitors in Asia and Europe in the manufacture of virtually all clean energy technologies. And the U.S. lags its economic rivals in preparing its future workforce with critical science, technology, engineering and math education (STEM).

The new report argues that to regain leadership in the global clean energy market, the United States must prioritize major investments in clean energy technology and embrace bold new paradigms in clean energy education, innovation, and production and manufacturing policy.

"Meeting the aggressive challenges to U.S. clean energy leadership will require both increased funding for critical education and technology programs as well as new ideas for how the federal government can foster innovation in the clean energy industry, from basic research to full-scale commercialization," said Mark Muro, Director of Policy at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Project.

Continue reading ""Strengthening Clean Energy Competitiveness: Opportunities for America COMPETES Reauthorization"" »

Cross posted at The Real Ewbank.

By Breakthrough Fellow, Leigh Ewbank

At the weekend, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed called for increased direct action campaigning to encourage governments to act on climate change. "What we really need is a huge social 60s-style catalystic, dynamic street action," said Nasheed in the Guardian.

If the people in the US wish to change, it can happen. In the 60s and 70s, they've done that.

President Nasheed emerged from the last year's Copenhagen Climate Conference with considerable clout among climate change campaigners, and rightly so. In the process of drawing attention to the plight of his homeland, the Maldives, a chain of small islands threatened by rising sea levels and storm surges, Nasheed became a leading voice for the vulnerable and poor in the international negotiations. Nasheed has since received several awards for his commendable efforts.

The Maldivian President's comments will no doubt be music to the ears of some climate advocates in Australia, however, the merits of such an approach should be carefully considered. Is direct action likely to be as effective for climate change as it was for social issues in the 1960s? Is Nasheed's optimism that renewed grassroots action will compel governments to implement effective climate policies well-founded?

Continue reading "Direct Action on Climate Change: Successful Tactic or Green Nostalgia?" »

The Brookings Institution is out with a new policy brief today building on their prior calls for energy discovery innovation institutes (e-DIIs). These regionally-based, collaborative research centers are designed to "serve as the hubs of a distributed research network linking the nation's best scientists, engineers, and facilities." The newest report assesses the potential for e-DII's in the Great Lakes region.

According to the general report overview:

Through such a network, the nation could at once increase its current inadequate energy R&D effort and complement existing resources with a new research paradigm that would join the unique capabilities of America's research universities to those of corporate R&D and federal laboratories.

Brookings' vision for creating an energy innovation network is consonant with a similar concept put forward by the Breakthrough Institute and Third Way in "Jumpstarting a Clean Energy Revolution with a National Institutes of Energy" which called for a national commitment to energy innovation modeled on the National Institutes of Health.

Continue reading "Envisioning an Energy Innovation Network for Economic Growth" »