Can the US lead Europe and China in the race for clean energy? It's looking less and less likely if Congress doesn't pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Innovation isn't the question. It's the legislation necessary that allows green tech companies to co-exist with the major power companies. Look at Germany.

According to Christian Science Monitor: In Germany, the politicians passed a law that "requires utilities to buy electricity from renewable sources at premium rates. This means anyone with a rooftop solar generator or a small water turbine can sell the energy they produce at a healthy profit"That lead to a boom in a growing network of small and medium-size energy producers.

Right now, that industry is worth $32B in 2008 according to the Economist. Already, Germany has leapfrogged the EU in meeting the EU's deadlines to capture 14.2% of its electricity from renewable resources.

It's going to be a tough climb for America. Let's face it, Germany and China are the leading countries on clean technology. China's taking the aggressive stance and building its own domestic agenda with its own native companies. China has built the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing industry by exporting over 95 percent of its output to the United States and Europe (New York Times). It's first solar plant had over 90% of its parts to be "Made in China."

While the tycoon T. Boon Picken has stalled his plans to build the largest wind farm in the US (4000 megawatts), China's moved ahead and is building SIX windfarms at (10,000-20,000 megawatts). Let's face it, government assistance is needed to nurture major movement in the clean technology sector. The US has major catchup to play against its competitors.

Let's hope the American Clean Energy and Security Act passes -- somewhat -- intact. If they manage to keep this requirement in the bill, that would be a major start: "Require electric utilities to meet 20% of their electricity demand through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by 2020."

With the latest proposals in spending for new clean energy technologies and energy efficiency, the US is looking to spend significant BILLIONS to stem global warming. We're looking at $90B by 2025 in energy efficiency and renewable energy, $60B in carbon capture and sequestration, $20B in  electric and other advanced technology vehicles, and another $20B in basic scientific research and development.(Stats listed in the Congres bill pending approval, amendment!)

With this recession, we have tons of blue-collar and white-collar workers who could get green-collar jobs if the stimulus gets funneled properly. According to the  Pew Charitable Trusts, "America’s clean energy economy has grown despite a lack of sustained government support in the past decade. By 2007, more than 68,200 businesses across all 50 states and the District of Columbia accounted for about 770,000 jobs." Of course, these statistics were PRIOR to the recession but still -- it's a growing field. California and Texas ranked #1 and #2 for the growing number of clean-energy jobs -- states that are seeing dire unemployment right now.

Yo Skippy aka thegatorbaitor.  The Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank.  Hey, how's this for a business proposition.  The Chinese build inefficient solar panels sell them to the Americans and Europeans have their tax payers foot the bill and drain their economy to the breaking point.  All the while the Chinese keep burning efficient coal to produce cheap reliable energy and their economy prospers.  The Chinese once the hardest of the hard core communists have embraced capitalism and they are going to choke us to death.  While you worry about who has the biggest wind farm.  China owns us.  They own our debt.  If you want to cry the sky is falling and frighten people try warning them about what we are going to do when China wants us to pay our debt.  They have already started doubting whether the international monetary fund currency should be the USD.  Be afraid, be very of afraid.  Not of greenhouse gases.  But of economic meltdown. Geez, gatorbaitor are you 12 yrs old going to summer school because you can't keep up with the other children?  Do you have Al Gore on your summer reading list?  Rational people have allowed you spout your nonsense with impunity for too long.  Not anymore my friend.  I sorry you fail.  You will have to repeat the 6th grade until you learn how to form a rational argument with facts.

Thanks for the rant VMAC. The original statement posed by the forum still stands: Will Americans be left behind in the race for clean energy?

I agree with you - the Chinese Government owns our US economy. If they wanted to cash in on their Treasury bills and bonds, our economy would flip out. Don't forget that China's economy is too intrinsically tied with the US to do that though because we're both tied to each other.

However - let's not derail. The facts I cited are true. The Chinese are beating the US in terms of green technology production and investment (I cited the New York Times). The Germans are beating the US in terms of green technology. If other countries are going to adopt green technology, it's looking MORE LIKELY that they'll go to our fellow competitors then something MADE IN THE USA.  If you care to add to that, please do so with your sources.

To get a very articulate, impassioned perspective on where the U.S. stands in developing a clean energy industry, check out the testimony of John Doerr to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works from July 16, 2009.  John Doerr, a senior partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is arguably the most prominent venture capitalist in the world (he was the lead investor in Amazon, Google, Netscape, and several other tech behemoths), and he has dedicated himself over the past several years to building a U.S. clean tech economy.  If we want to be a leader in clean tech, we need to put in place a few fundamental policies that support entrepreneurial investment.

The Pew Charitable Trust released a report called "Has the U.S. Fallen Behind in the Clean Energy Race?"

They made a good point: American cars with hybrid batteries made overseas...new wind turbines built on American soil, that on average, are assembled using over 50 percent foreign parts...in the 1990s, the US invented solar cells but now Spain beats Germany in generating the most solar energy. According to the Pew research, "Sharp, the Japanese-owned company, became the top global
producer of PV cells and China’s Suntech Power finished second. Currently, only two of the top ten PV companies in the world are U.S. owned.

We definitely have the entrepeneurship to create clean energy companies in the US. They just need support. On that note, we should note The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives with 219 votes for, 211 against.

One of the major problems in alternative energy is that the same short-term financial focuse and rampant greed that destroyed the banking system is at work in every local project to lower the cost and environmental impact of energy production. The way our utilities work, they are incented to spend more on their distribution system than on anything attached to it, because they have a legally mandated margin on that distribution expense. So, when local companies, like a paper mill, want to create a cogeneration plant (which uses heat produced by the industrial equipment to produce power that can be sold back to the grid), the utilities do nothing to help unless they are guaranteed the same kind of profits from the effort that they make from power distribution. We're seeing hundreds or thousands of such opportunities to cut the expenditure on carbon-emitting power that would be viable shut down or never started because of the financial piling on by utilities and bankers looking for unreasonable shares of profit. If, instead, we accepted that early projects will often be revenue neutral, we'd be seeing a lot more experimentation that could deliver real profitability in the future.

Looks like with President Obama signing the American Clean Energy and Security Act, we have ourselves a clean energy policy folks! Get your economic engines ready because the US government is ready to pit themselves against China, Germany, Japan.

* Congressional stimulus bill Obama signed included $71 billion for clean energy programs plus $20 billion in clean energy tax incentives

* U.S. Energy Information Administration to project a 12-fold increase in U.S. solar PV capacity to 12 GW by 2020

*American Clean Energy and Security Act invests over $190 billion through 2025 in clean energy and energy efficiency programs.

Source: Huffington Post

In this discussion, no one's brought up the longterm question: Are American students capable of leading the green/clean energy race? Let's face it: Engineering and Math scores for American students are not competitive with our rivals in Germany, South Korea, China, Japan, etc.

Some think tanks are calling the government to create another race -- pouring educational dollars to have our students be innovative in science/math/engineering akin to the educational funding that fed the 1960s Space Race: National Energy Education Act.

I think it's a good idea that needs a push.