Few aspects of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill matter more than the insufficient degree to which it applies future revenue to clean energy innovation. Quite simply, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) makes only a modest start toward promoting the technology breakthroughs that will make clean energy cheap, reduce carbon emissions, and create thousands of cleantech jobs. Correcting that shortcoming must become a top priority of lawmakers in the coming months as action moves to the Senate.
The challenge is clear now that ACES has passed the House. As a recent report issued by my group at the Brookings Institution argues, pricing and regulatory responses won’t by themselves get America where its needs to go when it comes to decarbonizing the world economy. In addition, America and the world need to catalyze—with large government research interventions—radical scientific and technological breakthroughs and their commercialization.
How big do those interventions need to be? According to our analysis, the federal government needs to invest as much as $20 to $30 billion per year in energy R&D alone simply to approach the federal R&... Read more
