Bill Gates and several other formidable technology industry leaders brought a simple message to Capitol Hill on Tuesday: Invest in a more expansive energy and technology policy.
At a briefing hosted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Gates and other captains of industry unveiled a new report on “energy innovation and proposed reforms of government programs to yield greater economic benefits.”
While the technical accomplishments of the U.S. are world-renowned, U.S. energy policy has been less than spectacular, according to the report.
“Unfortunately, the country has yet to embark on a clean energy innovation program commensurate with the scale of the national priorities that are at stake,” the summary states. “In fact, rather than improve the country’s energy innovation program and invest in strategic national interests, the current political environment is creating strong pressure to pull back from such efforts.”
The report advises developing and implementing a comprehensive, governmentwide Quadrennial Energy Review to align the public and private sectors to identify “key market failures and technology choke points in order to better orient federal programs and resources.”
Also present at the briefing were former Lockheed Martin Chairman Norman Augustine, current Bank of America Chairman and former DuPont chief Charles Holliday, former national security adviser Gen. Jim Jones, former Cisco Systems Chairman John Morgridge and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr.
The Department of Energy’s high-risk, high-reward Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy should receive at least $300 million per year with room for increases, the summary says. Appropriators in the House and Senate have offered ARPA-E $180 million and $250 million for fiscal 2012, respectively, while the Obama administration has requested $550 million.
Moreover, the group supports the further “ARPA-izing” of the culture and bureaucracy of the DOE.
The group also suggested that domestic energy production royalties, the reform and redirection of energy industry subsidies, collection of a surcharge on electricity, the levying of fees on other energy or pollution sources and the streamlining of the DOE be used to pay for the added clean energy investments.
Source: www.politico.com
At a briefing hosted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Gates and other captains of industry unveiled a new report on “energy innovation and proposed reforms of government programs to yield greater economic benefits.”
While the technical accomplishments of the U.S. are world-renowned, U.S. energy policy has been less than spectacular, according to the report.
“Unfortunately, the country has yet to embark on a clean energy innovation program commensurate with the scale of the national priorities that are at stake,” the summary states. “In fact, rather than improve the country’s energy innovation program and invest in strategic national interests, the current political environment is creating strong pressure to pull back from such efforts.”
The report advises developing and implementing a comprehensive, governmentwide Quadrennial Energy Review to align the public and private sectors to identify “key market failures and technology choke points in order to better orient federal programs and resources.”
Also present at the briefing were former Lockheed Martin Chairman Norman Augustine, current Bank of America Chairman and former DuPont chief Charles Holliday, former national security adviser Gen. Jim Jones, former Cisco Systems Chairman John Morgridge and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner John Doerr.
The Department of Energy’s high-risk, high-reward Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy should receive at least $300 million per year with room for increases, the summary says. Appropriators in the House and Senate have offered ARPA-E $180 million and $250 million for fiscal 2012, respectively, while the Obama administration has requested $550 million.
Moreover, the group supports the further “ARPA-izing” of the culture and bureaucracy of the DOE.
The group also suggested that domestic energy production royalties, the reform and redirection of energy industry subsidies, collection of a surcharge on electricity, the levying of fees on other energy or pollution sources and the streamlining of the DOE be used to pay for the added clean energy investments.
Source: www.politico.com
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