Research experts and climate policy advocates in the United States say that the massive budget cuts proposed by Republicans in the House of Representatives would hit clean energy and smart grid research programs at a crucial transition point for the U.S. electric power sector. Federal tax support and state renewable energy programs have helped solar and wind power installations hit record levels over the past several years, but experts worry that these proposed cuts could jeopardize future U.S. leadership in emerging technologies. According to Michael Howard, CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute, whose budget is funded by U.S. and foreign industry, “A lot of the work that DOE [Department of Energy] does is more basic research and will lead to innovations that are applied in years to come,” noting, for example, that solar “thin film” technology developed by leading U.S. solar energy manufacturers was incubated more than a decade ago at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. DOE research today continues to push frontiers in materials science, advanced batteries, grid sensors and efficiencies of solar units. DOE officials say that in order for U.S. companies and workers to be successful competitors in new energy technologies, support is needed for both today’s technology and investing in research to secure future advances. Monique Hanis, director of communications for the Solar Energy Industries Association, says “We’ve seen incredible growth and investment in this [clean energy] sector and a lot of incremental improvements. What’s critical is commercialization and scaling up. There are a lot of market-transforming programs in place to break down barriers to new technologies. You would hate to see those delayed or killed.” The article can be viewed online at the link below.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.eenews.net\/climatewire\/rss\/2011\/02\/14\/3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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