New Report Urges More Investment in Energy Innovation

The Breakthrough Institute (Swezey) - 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.

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.

To strengthen clean energy competitiveness through the reauthorization of America COMPETES, the report calls on Congress to:

• Increase funding for clean energy education programs to train a new generation of energy scientists, engineers, and innovators;
• Ensure a scheduled increase in the research budgets for key science and technology agencies;
• Authorize funding for innovative clean energy innovation programs like Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs), DOE Energy Innovation Hubs and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E);
• Support domestic clean energy manufacturers by establishing a new industrial innovation institute, creating a new manufacturing supply chain initiative, and providing low-cost loans for the retooling and expansion of clean energy manufacturing facilities; and
• Catalyze the development of clean energy industry clusters through funding new regional cluster initiatives and clean energy research consortia.

Although America COMPETES does not address tax policy, the authors also urge Congress to enact a more robust R&D tax credit and extend the 48C tax credit for advanced energy manufacturing.

"Each of these four areas--education, research and innovation, manufacturing, and industry cluster initiatives--are core components of a comprehensive clean energy competitiveness strategy that should be supported by Congress," said Jesse Jenkins, Director of Climate and Energy Policy at the Breakthrough Institute.

Accelerating the pace of clean energy innovation is also critical to affordably reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an important priority for policymakers. "Making clean energy cheap is essential to addressing climate risks," noted Jenkins.

The authors also address policymakers' concerns about rising federal deficits and identify a number of potential funding sources for these critical clean energy competitiveness programs, including sunsetting existing subsidies for fossil fuels or dedicating revenues from carbon permits or fees, an electricity wires charge for energy modernization, or federal revenues from oil and gas production.

"Ultimately, returning the federal budget to long-term solvency will require smart public investments today to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in emerging industries and lay the foundation for economic growth," said Rob Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. "It is precisely because of our difficult fiscal situation that the investments outlined in this report are a critical priority."

Read the report