Clean energy: policy and priorities

Clean energy: policy and priorities / Adele Morris, Brookings, January 2012

http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2012/01_clean_energy_morris.aspx?

President Obama said in May 2011, “We’re in a competition all around the world, and other countries …know that clean energy technology is what is going to help spur job creation and economic growth for years to come.” Federal energy subsidies, fueled mostly by stimulus spending, reflected his priorities by growing from $17.9 billion in FY 2007 to $37.2 billion in FY 2010. The policy mix includes direct expenditures, tax expenditures, and the subsidy associated with loan guarantees. For example, cumulatively from September 2009 through November 2011, the Department of Energy (DOE) underwrote $35.9 billion in loan guarantees for a range of energy-related technologies…