Last week I attended the Aspen Institute’s annual Clean Energy Economy Roundtable, from July 21–24, 2011 in Colorado to participate in conference discussions that focused on policy tools needed to further accelerate the clean energy economy while highlighting innovations in clean-tech policy, renewable energy and financing already underway.
The House of Representatives’ vote on Tuesday to reauthorize the America COMPETES Act is essential to ensuring we stay at the front of the pack as a leader in scientific and technological innovation. The COMPETES ACT investment of $46 billion over the next three years for basic research programs aimed at boosting science, technology, engineering and math education will help the U.S. encourage innovation and economic growth here at home at a time when we need it most.
This week on Capitol Hill, it appeared as though the House and Senate were finally seeing eye-to-eye on the issue of clean energy. In two separate hearings—one on the Global Clean Energy Race held by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and one on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program (LGP) held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee—the case for re-establishing the U.S. as the leader in clean energy manufacturing and deployment was well argued. Read more
To all the naysayers who questioned whether energy legislation could pass this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has an answer for them: not so fast. Speaking at the third annual National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Reid revived hopes that a bill would get through after all, albeit a much smaller one than the House approved last summer, which may even include the resurrection of a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES).Read more
Yesterday, from the White House, Vice President Biden released a new report, “The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy through Innovation,” which outlines how the administration’s $100 billion investment in innovation has been, for the most part, money well spent. In his remarks, Biden highlighted four key areas where stimulus money was working:
•Modernizing transportation
•Jumpstarting the renewable energy sector
•Investing in groundbreaking medical research
•Building a platform that will enhance the private sector’s
Yesterday, from the White House, Vice President Biden released a new report, 
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