Sen. Bingaman Links Manufacturing Revival to Clean Technology

IndustryWeek (Alpern) - Senator Bingaman says government efforts to support solar and other clean technologies have been insufficient and have not focused enough on manufacturing. According to Bingaman, while Congress and the Obama administration have made significant efforts to support clean energy, "the policies that have been enacted to date are clearly not sufficient to establish the U.S. as the leader in clean technology." Perhaps more sobering, he said, at the moment, "90% of the production capacity for new clean technology is outside the United States."

According to John Rowe, chairman of Exelon, operator of the country's largest fleet of nuclear reactors, America's shift toward cleaner energy -- and its inherent economic opportunities -- has been wildly inefficient. "We are moving inexorably toward a low-carbon society but in unproductive and uneconomic fits and starts," said Rowe. "Approaches that put a price on carbon emissions, such as cap-and-trade, remain the only solutions to our energy and climate challenges that give us cleaner, more secure energy while minimizing the costs to consumers and putting more people to work."