Friday Factoids: Climate Bills vs. Expert Consensus on R&D

Originally from the Breakthrough Institute

Friday again already eh? Well that makes it Friday Factoids time...

We'll keep this one short, with just the graphic below comparing the levels of clean energy R&D funding included in the House and Senate climate and energy bills with the strong and growing consensus among energy innovation experts that $15 billion per year in additional funding is needed to achieve national climate, energy and economic objectives.

I've also included the boost in FY2009 Department of Energy (DOE) R&D budgets provided by the economic stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As Google's Dan Reicher warned the Senate on Wednesday: when these temporary stimulus funds dry up, the U.S. could fall of a "funding cliff" unless significantly larger allocations are made for clean energy R&D in Congressional legislation.

(click to enlarge)

Sources:

• ACES and CEJAPA funding levels are average annual figures over the first ten years of cap and trade (2012-2021) at EPA-projected allowance prices. See this post for (much) more.
  
• Read "The Innovation Consensus: $15 Billion for Clean Energy R&D" for a discussion of the expert consensus on the need for $15 billion annually in new clean energy R&D spending, a position converged upon by leading business, policy, academic, and research voices, including Google, the Brookings Institution, Third Way, the Breakthrough Institute, the Association of American Universities and Association of Public Land-grant Universities, and 34 American Nobel Laureates.
  
• President Obama pledges to "Invest $150 billion over ten years in energy research and development to transition to a clean energy economy" at WhiteHouse.gov, and initially outlined $15 per year in funding for clean technology from cap and trade revenues in his long-term budget outline.
  
• FY2009 ARRA funding for DOE R&D programs is from DOE budget documents here.