Red Herring panelists say the U.S. has investors and
technology, but is missing the opportunity to be a leading renewable-energy
market.
May 20, 2005
The
While clean-energy investment
has been growing in the
“One of my partners is in
The audience reacted with nods,
smirks, and head-shaking, as people agreed, disagreed, and expressed surprise.
The panel discussed the issue Thursday, the final day of the technology
conference in
The panelists agreed that the
largest renewable-energy markets are not in the
“I wouldn’t go so far as
saying the game is over and we lost, but there are certainly big drivers
overseas,” said William Acker, CEO of MTI Micro Fuel Cells.
European wind projects have
outpaced those in the
“In energy, it’s far more
interesting to look at technology outside of the
But Nancy Floyd, managing
director at clean-energy investment firm Nth Power, said the
“One company we invested in
is selling 100 percent of its goods to other countries,” she said. “We are
losing jobs, losing our leadership position. We’ve certainly lost it in wind,
where we were a leader in the 1980s. Because of our policies, we are going to
see products sold there and manufactured there.”
After the panel, she added that
Nth Power encourages its portfolio companies to sell outside of the country.
About 16 states currently have
renewable-energy requirements, but there is no federal standard, said Mr. Green.
He added that the different state policies make it difficult for clean-energy
companies to market in the
Mr. McDermott said he thinks
the federal government should match its oil and gas subsidies with similar aid
for solar and other renewable-energy technologies, at least at first. “We’re
missing the opportunity to become the market,” he said.
Another reason the
“Have you ever stayed at a
hotel in the
Nobody in the audience raised a
hand. “I’ve done this experiment at panels all over the country, and you get
maybe one person,” said Mr. Green. “But it happens all the time in
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