In the News

The Energy Innovation Tracker was featured in the Washington Post’s Wonkblog on Tuesday in Brad Plumer’s piece, “Four charts that show the U.S. spends too little on energy research.” The piece cited EIT’s 2010 publication, Federal Energy Innovation Spending: Gaps Analysis, which compared contemporary federal investment in energy innovation to recommendations from a number of experts on the subject.

The expert consensus suggests that the federal government should be spending between $8 and $30 billion per year – between two and six times FY2012 investment in basic science and R&D. This recommendation is in line with Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz’ statement at his Senate confirmation hearing, in which he claimed the United States is underinvesting in energy innovation “by a factor of three.”

For more information on federal R&D spending, search the EIT database – you can also sort R&D projects by technology and agency.

A few weeks ago we revealed a new and exciting interactive budget tool based on data directly from the Tracker at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s Energy Innovation 2013 Conference, which we’re calling the ‘Budget Builder.’

The tool allows users to allocate $50 billion across five innovation phases (R&D, demonstration, manufacturing, deployment, and procurement), and then scales down those allocations to the actual FY2012 energy innovation investment total of $15 billion. The user can then readjust the allocation across the innovation phase categories and compare their budget to the actual FY2012 distribution. Users can (and are encouraged to) share their budgets on Facebook and Twitter!

The new tool would not be possible without the addition of the new data on demonstration projects, deployment incentives, and procurement spending recently added to the Tracker. We’re hoping the Budget Builder will spark conversation on what the ‘ideal’ energy innovation budget looks like – in total and by innovation phase categories. As always, feedback is welcome!

ITIF’s Matt Stepp references the Energy Innovation Tracker in his piece in Forbes: Three Warning Signs America is Losing the Global Clean Energy Race.

In the piece, Stepp used the Tracker to compare total investment in energy innovation in 2009 to investment in 2012. When considering the boost in investment in 2009 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investments in clean energy innovation, investment levels in 2012 are about $1 billion lower than 4 years ago.

Before leaving Washington for the next seven weeks to campaign in their home states before the Nov. 6th election, House and Senate members passed FY2013 Continuing Resolution H.J. Res. 117, which continues funding for the federal government at levels slightly higher than those for FY2012 until March 27, 2013.

During the Senate’s consideration of the bill, Senator Daniel Inouye (D – Hawaii) noted that the bill was “lean and stripped down” despite including $19 billion more in appropriations than Rep. Paul Ryan’s Pathway to Prosperity budget, passed in the House earlier this year.

The Continuing Resolution grants $1.047 trillion for discretionary spending for the next six months, but it does not affect automatic cuts from sequestration, which is set to go into effect in January and could result in major cuts to R&D across the board, and specifically to energy innovation both at DOE and DOD.

The Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes (CSPO) released a unique tool, the DOD Energy Innovation Atlas, that graphically displays EIT data on energy innovation investments by the Department of Defense (DOD). Recently EIT explored the DOD’s basic science and RD&D energy innovation investment portfolio, and completed a case study on the Army’s Green Warrior Convoy, a demonstration project promoting its fleet of hybrid- and all-electric combat vehicles. DOD’s energy innovation investments emphasize the importance of further exploring the department’s current and future role in the development of breakthrough energy technologies to address its own operational energy needs and for future commercial sector applications.

The tool organizes EIT data in graphical displays showcasing DOD’s investments by military branch and “Program Element” – a category designed by CSPO for the Atlas – exposing investments across specified technology categories. The tool displays total fiscal investment for Program Elements between FY2009-FY2012, plus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investments by DOD. The Atlas, which provides an easily accessible picture of DOD’s investments in energy innovation during the past four years, adds further clarity to the discussion concerning the department’s role in building the United States’ energy innovation ecosystem.