Comments on: Will America Lose the Clean Energy Race?

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:54:52 +0000

Ditto on the not thinking of it as a ‘race’. But they could totally miss out if they miss this opportunity.

I think Obama put it well when he said (paraphrased) that ‘the nation who leads the world in renewable energy now will become the economic superpower of the 21st century’. But still, too competitive. What we need right now is cooperation and FUNDING from developed countries to help the developing world take the low-carbon development path, without making the same mistakes that we did. If we DON’T provide funding/assistance to them, they will burn cheap coal. And none of us can afford that.

And, I think that *every* American should see that beautiful ‘flag and turbine’ photo that accompanies your post. That could help shift consciousness.

By: AFrench

AFrench — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:15:18 +0000

Personally I think looking at it as a race is really counterproductive.
Think how much faster we would have gotten to the moon during the “space race” if we had cooperated with the Soviet Union instead of “racing” against them. I think the sharing of technology and co-development of renewable energy ventures is what’s really necessary, not hyping folks up about needing to beat China and South Korea in clean energy development. The only way we can beat climate change is together, as a human race…and I’m put off by this claim/post.

By: EnergySparkster

EnergySparkster — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:53:22 +0000

We’ve been thinking about it here at SparkWords.
We should note The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives with 219 votes for, 211 against. The last time I heard, we were looking at $90B by 2025 in energy efficiency and renewable energy, $60B in carbon capture and sequestration, $20B in electric and other advanced technology vehicles, and another $20B in basic scientific research and development.

We’re keeping track over here: http://bit.ly/19ISI3 at our forum thread.

By: Jesse Jenkins

Jesse Jenkins — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:34:15 +0000

Please drop a comment: What do you think the U.S. needs to do to win the clean energy race?

By: Keith Martin

Keith Martin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:07:25 +0000

It seems to me that America has never been in the race