THE NEW ENERGY OLYMPICS

Will U.S. Companies Be Shut Out of Clean-Tech Markets by China and Other Competitors?
Lisa Friedman, March 4, 2010 (NY Times)

"The United States must make long-term investments in clean energy development or risk being shut out of a $2.3 trillion industry…[ Out of the Running? How Germany, Spain, and China Are Seizing the Energy Opportunity and Why the United States Risks Getting Left Behind from] the Center for American Progress hails Germany, Spain and China as "early winners in the next great technological and industrial revolution" because each imposed policies to encourage low-carbon energy development. Japan, Denmark and South Korea, the authors predict, also will profit handsomely as the industry expands. But the United States, lacking domestic clean energy policies, threatens to be left behind…

"The report comes as activists and some lawmakers try to revive an appetite in Congress for tackling climate change. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) are crafting new legislation that will put a price on greenhouse gas emissions, with a draft expected out this week…With the economy still reeling, political leaders pressing for a climate bill have openly said they hope to sell climate policies as part of a broader job-creation strategy that can lift the United States out of its downturn."

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"The report…makes a strong push for the United States to put a price on carbon and impose a renewable energy standard…The authors list dozens of market, financing and infrastructure policies enacted in Germany, Spain and China -- from national renewable energy and energy efficiency plans to mandates that grid companies build interconnections for renewables -- and point out that the United States has little that is comparable…

"In the case of Germany, the authors pointed specifically to the High-Tech Strategy that the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology launched in 2006, which has committed about $1.67 billion toward sustainable development investment…In Spain, the authors predict renewable energy will…relieve the country's 13 percent unemployment rates. China, meanwhile, has 67 gigawatts of installed renewable electricity capacity -- more than any other country -- and already produces about 16 percent of its electricity from hydro and wind power…"

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"While China has been known more for its manufacturing than for its innovation in clean technology, the authors argued that fostering innovation is China's long-term strategy and it has some major government-funded research and development initiatives under way. That, combined with new policies like ones mandating Chinese-manufactured equipment in domestic wind projects and a tariff on the imports of turbine parts, is helping to make clean energy a "job creation engine…"

"Not everyone, though, is bullish on foreign clean technology markets. Ben Lieberman, a senior energy policy analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, argued that government subsidies and tax incentives abroad have not helped those economies…[and] siphons money from other parts of the economy that might be more productive…[In response, the report’s lead author] said the amount of attention other countries are paying to the clean energy market should be a "wake-up call" to the United States…"