While consumers often take the energy that powers their daily lives for granted, the men and women of America’s energy industry are at the forefront of groundbreaking innovation and technological advancement.
GEI’s EnergyInnovates initiative showcases the innovators, their technologies, and the projects that have shaped today’s energy landscape and will lay the groundwork for a cleaner, stronger future. But while the business community continues to do its part, greater gains can come from a policy framework that fosters innovation, pushes investment, and spurs the research, development, and deployment of tomorrow’s solutions.
Why? Because the development of technology and its commercial adoption are among the most important factors determining how quickly and at what cost greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced. Existing technologies have started us on this path, but they are not now capable of significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale and at an acceptable cost. New, and in some cases revolutionary, energy technologies will have to be developed and adopted commercially, along with the infrastructure to support them, in order to achieve the emissions reduction goals of the future.
We believe the U.S. must maintain a leadership role in developing and commercializing technologies, such as advanced nuclear, energy efficient systems and building materials, large-scale renewables, energy storage and batteries, high-efficiency low-emission power plants, and carbon capture, storage, and utilization by supporting an aggressive, broad-based public- and private-sector technology portfolio. Success on this front will allow the United States to not only utilize technology here at home, but export it around the world to both developed and developing nations that are seeking climate solutions.
To support this goal, the Chamber has been aggressive and forceful in its calls for Congress and the President to enact comprehensive energy innovation legislation. We have worked closely with members of Congress and other stakeholders to support these efforts and we will continue to do so. While partisan gridlock makes progress difficult, we have worked to foster broad, bipartisan consensus around many specific proposals, and we believe that the adoption of comprehensive innovation legislation by both the House and Senate remains a reasonable goal.