Four charts that show the U.S. spends too little on energy research
At his confirmation hearing last week, Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz told the Senate that the United States spends far too little on energy R&D. “We are underinvesting by a factor of three,” he said, directly citing AEIC’s previous statements. Indeed, although U.S. energy R&D has been growing in recent years, levels are still below their peak in the 1970s — and they’re set to drop in the years ahead. We’re spending less on R&D to develop various clean-energy technologies than groups like the International Energy Agency have recommended. Moreover, federal...
Read MoreAEIC staff release case studies on government role in energy innovation
In the last half century, American companies have developed the technologies and established the businesses that shape the world’s energy systems today. American companies have led in energy innovation in large part because they are supported by our federal government’s commitment to driving innovation. Acting as a catalyst or instigator, the federal government can quicken the cycles of discovery and invention. As the American Energy Innovation Council outlined in its previous reports, Catalyzing Ingenuity and The Business Plan, private sector innovation cannot address our energy...
Read MoreARPA-e provides catalytic funding for energy innovation
Republicans are praising a clean energy program supported by President Obama for a reason. ARPA-e is about catalytic funding of energy innovation–small grants that help develop promising new high-risk, high-reward technologies. ARPA-e’s employees themselves are on time-limited assignments, helping the agency avoid bureaucratic stasis that can affect other government R&D. And the funding is spread competitively to projects across the country in both universities and companies. The article, written by Jim Snyder, can be read at Bloomberg...
Read MoreFederal energy R&D helps the blind see anew
Today, the F.D.A. approved the first use of artificial retina technology to give limited vision to the blind. While some financing came from the private sector, major support for the development came from Department of Energy , along with other federal agencies. Specifically, through the Artificial Retina Project, DOE funded several national laboratories to work in multidisciplinary teams on dual-use technologies relevant to both DOE’s energy mission and the artificial retina technology. Who would have guessed that research on environmental sensing and biofuels would play key parts in...
Read MoreDon’t sequester discovery and innovation
Good times or bad, one must manage for the future. Discovery and innovation is the pathway there. Our economy, prosperity and well-being have been driven by scientific discovery and technological innovation in ways that most people rarely think about. In the coming weeks, Congress has a decision to make that will determine if the partnership between government, universities and industry in scientific discovery and technological innovation will continue in the robust way it has in the past. Looming across-the-board budget cuts — known as the sequester — are set to significantly reduce...
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