The Senate Finance Committee has given the go-ahead for a one-year reprieve for the soon-to-expire Production Tax Credit (PTC). The one-year extension (through 2013) must now go to the full Senate. If passed, the bill will go to the House.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), PTC drives up to $20 billion a year of private investment into U.S. wind farms, creating demand that allows U.S. manufacturing compete in a global market. Navigant Consulting predicts that 37,000 jobs will be lost by early 2013 if Congress lets the PTC expire at the end of 2012.

Baseload energy sources (for example, hydropower) rely particularly heavily on PTCs at a time when fuel costs are high and electricity prices are low. Baseload energy sources combined produce nearly 75 percent of the nation's renewable electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But as hotly received as this extension has been, it seems like a small feat compared to a bill that could extend the PTC for 10 years. If approved, newly introduced legislation would extend the PTC and other clean energy incentives through the next decade. This legislation, the Clean Energy Victory Bonds Act of 2012 (HR 6275), is based on a successful World War II "War Bond" model.

During WWII, 85 million Americans purchased Victory Bonds from the federal government to help restore the U.S. economy. The program raised $185 billion (equivalent to $2 trillion today).

Today, Clean Energy Victory Bonds would be purchased from the U.S. Treasury to fund the rapid deployment of renewable energy projects and energy-efficiency upgrades. Clean Energy Victory Bonds could leverage $50 billion in investments to create more than $150 billion in public and private finance for clean energy.

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