Welcome to your first Friday Rundown in 2018 for the week ending Jan. 5. As in the old year, feedback welcome at info@clearpathaction.org.
RICH TO TESTIFY ON DOE MODERNIZATION
ClearPath Executive Director Rich Powell will testify Tuesday at a House Energy Subcommittee hearing on modernizing the Department of Energy. Rich will argue that the U.S. will fall further behind China and others in the clean energy innovation race without fundamental reforms at DOE focused on establishing long-term “moonshot” technology goals, private-sector style performance-based investment strategies and better private-sector collaboration.
The first panel at the hearing will be a suite of top DOE officials, including Deputy Director Dan Brouillette and Under Secretary Mark Menezes. Rich will testify on a second panel that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia.
It’s January 2040 and America is leading the world in clean energy technology. Thanks to a massive innovation boom, these clean energy resources and technologies are our fastest growing exports. This is creating a global win-win that the left and the right fight over getting credit for, where the world is paying the U.S. for our energy technology and which in turn makes efforts to reduce carbon emissions more affordable.
So how do we get there?
ClearPath Founder Jay Faison lays out a blueprint for how the U.S. can achieve that clean energy dominance even as the U.S. is swiftly falling behind China especially in commercializing and exporting advanced technologies.
It involves choosing breakthrough innovation, outcompeting the Chinese and investing for the longterm.
China is finishing construction on four AP1000 reactors from Westinghouse. Part of the licensing deal is that China is allowed to use the IP for a bigger design. They are designing the CAP1400, a 1400 MW version of the U.S. design, which they will market for export.
