China displaced the U.S. as the top destination for clean energy investment in 2009. Now a study byPew’s Clean Energy Program is showing the U.S. has slipped behind Germany as well.
Phyllis Cuttino, who directs the program, says that without a national policy to provide greater certainty to investors, the U.S. will continue to fall farther down the list. That, she says, poses a real danger to the U.S. economy.
“This is an industry that has grown 630% between 2004 an 2010 — a quarter of a trillion dollars — and what’s at stake in this industry is jobs, investments, manufacturing, export opportunities, and innovative capacity. So, we really need to get into the game.”
The study estimates U.S. clean energy investment for 2011 at $34 billion, slightly higher than where it stood in 2007. The industry suffered sharp declines during the recession. Federal stimulus funding that helped the industry to recover from the recession expires this year.
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