Will our oil dependence be replaced with clean tech dependence?
Business Week has a short article discussing the failure of our federal and many state governments to create a comprehensive green energy policy. The article notes that although venture capital firms put $2.6 billion into clean tech ventures in the first three quarters of 2007, for America to compete with other countries going forward, real government supported policy needs to be implemented. The article notes:
Despite condemning “America’s addiction to oil” and promoting the importance of alternative energies in his State of the Union addresses, President Bush has consistently failed to follow through on his promises to fund alternative energy research. He’s generous with the green rhetoric, just not with actual greenbacks.
While this article does not specifically articulate what a real pro-green energy policy would entail, we agree that government action is necessary in order to create a climate conducive to clean technology innovation. The article cites examples of local governments that have provided tax breaks and job training for green companies, presumably as a guide to what a good government policy would entail. We tend to feel a more important step the government could take is to more accurately price the cost of non-green energy, as we’ve described in our other posts. More than job training and tax breaks for local plants, which are common with many industries, this would create an environment where American clean tech innovation was free to compete and grow.
Photo by Paul Bence
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