The Energy Department has been pouring billions of dollars this year into alternative energy companies and technologies designed to bring greater efficiency to buildings, homes and the electrical grid.
What will happen when the funding spigot is turned off?
"There is a serious risk of falling off a serious funding cliff when these dollars dry up," says Google's Dan Reicher
That question is increasingly a source of concern for clean-tech executives and industry leaders as they look toward a time when U.S. stimulus funding and loan guarantees are gone.
“There is a serious risk of falling off a serious funding cliff when these dollars dry up,” notes Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives at Google.
The novel use of the stimulus money under the Obama Administration is clearly giving a boost to the clean-energy economy and to technologies under development in labs and companies across the country.
More money is on the way. More than $50 billion of Energy Department loan guarantees is poised to begin supporting ventures and corporate expansion. Already companies such as Solyndra, Fisker and Tesla Motors have qualified.
The challenge ahead is finding sources of funding that will last for a decade or more, long after these monies are gone. “That is what it will take” to remake the nation’s energy system, says Ernie Moniz, director of MIT’s energy initiative.
Reicher estimates the financial support might need to be $15 billion a year. But with federal budget deficits, a slow economy and a war in Afghanistan, such a sum will be hard to get.
The result is “it’s going to be tough sledding over the next couple years,” he says. And rapid pressure for technologies to stand on their own without government support will take hold – putting some of the youngest, most ambitious projects at risk.
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Thanks for the feedback. We did have help designing the blog. A friend did a JPEG of the banner. But that was it. WorldPress has a good deal of flexibility in layout.
LEDs already are a fast growing segment, says Birnbaum. The bright pictures and micro-thin designs are a powerful draws.