TechPulse 360

The United States risks losing the race to a clean-tech economy if it fails to get serious about global warming, Energy Department Secretary Steven Chu said Monday.

Taking five years or longer to pass energy legislation will limit the nation’s ability to be a leader in the green-energy technologies of tomorrow, Chu said during an address at Stanford University.

American prosperity is at stake, said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

“I think we will lose (and) end up purchasing equipment from abroad,” he said. “The future prosperity of the United States is at risk.”

Chu used the midday speech to renew his call for an energy bill from Congress. But he also highlighted the danger more motivated countries, particularly China, pose to a complacent country.

China is spending $9 billion a month to diversify its energy production, he noted. One advanced power line project by itself will cost $88 billion over the next decade as high-efficiency high-tension wires are strung 1,200 miles from east to west. The wires will transport energy to the coastal population centers with miniscule energy losses of as little as 5 percent.

In 1996, the U.S. was the leading manufacturer of solar panels. Now its market share is below 10 percent, Chu added. “We are falling behind in the clean-energy race.”

He argued that the importance of energy legislation can’t be overstated. A properly crafted bill will set a price on carbon and a cap on permitted emissions, giving companies the clarity to begin making investments. Even a modest bill can provide an important signal to the market, he said

That Obama Administration has made the goal of energy legislation a top priority. Chu hoped to push the effort along: “I would like to have it this year.”

But the nation needs more than legislation. The Recovery Act passed at the start of the Obama Administration set aside $80 billion for clean technology development. However, many of the grants and tax credits it included have been allocated.

More money will be needed, Chu said. “We still need tens of billions of dollars at a minimum a year. The Recovery Act was a start of that.”

Chu said the future prosperity of the country hangs in the balance. So does the U.S.’s first climate change counter punch, a long awaited first blow.