$15 Billion Per Year Needed for Clean Energy R&D Says Growing Consensus of Innovation Supporters

As the Senate version of pending climate legislations, Kerry-Boxer's CEJAPA, heads for mark-up on Tuesday, voices calling for $15 billion annually for clean energy research and development are starting to gain traction.


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By: Yael Borofsky

As the Senate version of pending climate legislations, Kerry-Boxer's CEJAPA, heads for mark-up on Tuesday, voices calling for $15 billion annually for clean energy research and development are starting to gain traction. Earlier this week, Google's Director of Climate Change and Energy, Dan Reicher joined the ranks of think tanks such as, Brookings Institution, Third Way, and the Breakthrough Institute, not to mention President Barack Obama, when he called on the Senate EPW committee to include this funding in the bill.

According to Reicher's testimony (emphasis in original):

“Chairman Boxer, it is essential that Congress address this serious energy R&D short-fall by incorporating President Obama’s goal of $15 billion per year in federal energy R&D spending in final climate legislation.”

This testimony followed on the heals of a letter and discussion paper from the nation's leading universities to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, emphasizing the need for a bottom line investment of $5 billion dollars annually in R&D, significantly more than would be allocated under both House and Senate version of climate and energy legislation.

According to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and the Association of American Universities (AAU):

"The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act calls for an 83% reduction in US carbon emissions by the year 2050. Without significant advances in science and technology, the incentives now provided in ACES and other laws are not sufficient to let the US meet its goals. Many studies have recommended major increases in both Federal and private sector energy R&D to do this; thus the President, in his FY10 Budget, calls for creating a “Clean Energy Technology Fund” of $15 billion per year for 10 years. We need a major effort to obtain the basic scientific knowledge to develop and implement the technologies needed to eliminate the projected growth in the use of fossil fuels, and then to displace five of every six barrels of oil and tons of coal with renewable and nuclear energy, and enhanced energy efficiency." (emphasis in original)

Affordable and abundant clean energy technology is critical if America truly wants to displace fossil fuel burning power sources. Today, technologies currently on the shelf, so to speak, are not prepared to achieve that goal. As the consensus in support of $15 billion per year for clean energy R&D shows, considerably more clean energy R&D is needed in order to fuel the innovation process that will produce the clean energy technologies we need to both maintain economic competitiveness and mitigate carbon emissions.

Image Credit: SqueakyMarmot via Flickr Creative Commons


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Reprinted from Cleantechnica with permission from Green Options Media.


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  1. 1. Georgy 07:40 AM 2/4/10

    It is possible to respect the USA for such activity in search of breaches of clean energy. We can give such technological help and be the participants of such breach. It we already worked out and can offer technology of receipt of clean energy and small reconstruction small resources.
    Academician G.Z.

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  2. 2. Georgy 07:44 AM 2/4/10

    "Affordable and abundant clean energy technology is critical if America truly wants to displace fossil fuel burning power sources. Today, technologies currently on the shelf, so to speak, are not prepared to achieve that goal. As the consensus in support of $15 billion per year for clean energy R&D shows, considerably more clean energy R&D is needed in order to fuel the innovation process that will produce the clean energy technologies we need to both maintain economic competitiveness and mitigate carbon emission."
    .............................................................................................
    It is possible to respect the USA for such activity in search of breaches of clean energy. We can give such technological help and be the participants of such breach. It we already worked out and can offer technology of receipt of clean energy and small reconstruction small resources.
    Academician G.Z.

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  3. 3. Georgy 03:11 AM 2/8/10

    It we already worked out and wait negotiations.
    ...........................................
    "The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act calls for an 83% reduction in US carbon emissions by the year 2050. Without significant advances in science and technology, the incentives now provided in ACES and other laws are not sufficient to let the US meet its goals. Many studies have recommended major increases in both Federal and private sector energy R&D to do this; thus the President, in his FY10 Budget, calls for creating a “Clean Energy Technology Fund” of $15 billion per year for 10 years. We need a major effort to obtain the basic scientific knowledge to develop and implement the technologies needed to eliminate the projected growth in the use of fossil fuels, and then to displace five of every six barrels of oil and tons of coal with renewable and nuclear energy, and enhanced energy efficiency."

    Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
  4. 4. Georgy 03:44 AM 2/9/10

    All future of clean energy is related to simple and inexpensive extraction of hydrogen, only source of caloradiance. He is widely widespread in the wild and it is possible him easily to produce by means of our new "cluster fuel".
    In this new енергетическом fuel there always is a carbon as hydrogen упоковка. They are easily divided into component parts by means of new technology from the action of gravitation. It we found experiments certainly. And now offer joint work in practice.
    Academician G.Z.

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