Bill Gates Helps America Plan for a Sustainable Future

Posted on June 18, 2010
Filed Under Carbon Footprints, Green Business, Green Celebs, TECHNOLOGY, TRANSPORTATION |

By Brandon Rose

Now more than ever, America wants affordable clean energy. The American Energy Innovation Council plans on giving Americans what they ask for.

To do this, they have the some of the best entrepreneurs and most innovative thinkers, such as Bill Gates, working on this problem. But first, they need help from the government. They are asking the government to triple the national energy research budget. Today, the budget is under $5 billion. They say this budget increase is needed to promote a new economy powered by green jobs, to combat climate change, and to end our dependence on foreign oil:

As business leaders, we feel that America’s current energy system is deficient in ways that cause serious harm to our economy, our national security, and our environment. To correct these deficiencies, we must make a serious commitment to modernizing our energy system with cleaner, more efficient technologies.

Such a commitment should include both robust, public investments in innovative energy technologies as well as policy reforms to deploy these technologies on a large scale. By tapping America’s entrepreneurial spirit and longstanding leadership in technology innovation, we can set a course for a prosperous, sustainable economy-and take control of our energy future.

Conversely, if we continue with the energy status quo, we will expose ourselves to risks that pose significant threats to our way of life.

The Council issued five specific recommendations:

Create an independent national energy strategy board.
Invest $16 billion per year in clean energy innovation.
Create Centers of Excellence with strong domain expertise.
Fund ARPA-E at $1 billion per year.
Establish and fund a New Energy Challenge Program to build large-scale pilot projects

What do you think? Are these good ways to meet America’s clean energy goals? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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