Energy Innovation Sputters
In 2014, global investments in renewable energy declined for the fourth year in a row, to under $250 billion. The United States could be expected to take the lead in developing new energy alternatives. But it is not.
Awash in cheap energy from shale oil and gas, America has lost sight of the goal: decarbonizing the world’s energy supply within a matter of decades.
Consider the sun. The world has made huge leaps in solar technology. Yet solar energy still accounts for only about 1 percent of the world’s power. To keep up with rising demand for electricity, solar energy might have to supply 27 percent of electric power by 2050, according to one model by the International Energy Agency.
A recent report from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology highlighted the obstacles in the way of solar: It is still more expensive than fossil fuels; it is tiny relative to the major role it needs to play in the global energy system; and it is intermittent.
For starters, this calls for energy storage on a large scale: huge batteries, perhaps, or natural gas generators with carbon capture technology to pick up the slack when the sun is down. Neither exists yet.
Also required is a leap in the technology of converting photons into electric power to sharply reduce the price. The silicon-based solar panels that produce most solar energy today won’t cut it.
Scientists and entrepreneurs have developed promising approaches to these challenges, but their commercially viability remains untested.
The private sector will not, on its own, step in to fund the necessary additional research. “It’s pathetic how little resources are being devoted,” said David Miller of the Clean Energy Venture Group, an investor who provides seed capital to energy innovators. “They could reach a commercial scale but don’t have the funding to get there.”
The United States Energy Department’s budget for research, development and demonstration remains stuck at some $5 billion, about the same as a half a decade ago, paling next to other countries’ efforts. China, for instance, spends a fifth of its government research budget on energy.
“A step- change in the United States’ commitment to federal energy innovation is critical,” noted a report released in February by the American Energy Innovation Council. “Any serious business leader would recognize that the country needs to take advantage of its current strength and act now to create a clean energy future.”
Too many political leaders think otherwise. So far, federal support for basic energy research has been limited by the many Republicans in Congress who deny man-made climate change and oppose spending more money to prevent it.
With Congress blocking funding for innovation, the Obama administration has turned to its only available tool to change the nation’s energy profile: regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil the final rules of its Clean Power Plan soon, which, if it survives legal challenges, would force power plants to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.
That is a necessary step. Without a big technological push, though, it will probably prove an insufficient one.