Tackling U.S. energy challenges and opportunities: preliminary policy recommendations for enhancing energy innovation in the United States

Abstract

The incoming Obama Administration and the 111th Congress face enormous challenges and opportunities in tackling the pressing security, economic, and environmental problems posed by the energy sector in the United States and worldwide. Improving the technologies of energy supply and end-use is a prerequisite for surmounting these challenges in a timely and cost-effective way. Accelerating the development and deployment of advanced energy-supply and end-use technologies will require a comprehensive strategy integrating efforts from invention to deployment, including strong leadership, alignment of policy incentives, consistency of policies, and a long-term view. In the following sections we outline our preliminary recommendations for near-term actions to strengthen the U.S. effort to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies. Our analysis is continuing, and we will be publishing long -term policy recommendations later this year. The budget recommendations in this paper are only for fiscal year (FY) 2010. They represent minimum levels based on ramping up from FY 2008 levels where such increases are most needed. They do not take into account the amounts provided in the recently approved economic recovery package.