Panel Urges Jump In Energy R&D

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) recommended a roughly $10 billion annual increase in federally supported energy R&D and deployment, taking total federal energy R&D support to $16 billion a year. In a report released last week, PCAST also urged establishment of a standard process to direct federal energy R&D activities and spending and regular reexamination of energy spending every four years. The advisers stressed the importance of a multiyear, long-term energy research plan. The plan is needed to ensure U.S. leadership in economic competitiveness for the growing global clean energy market, in cutting carbon dioxide emissions, and in international security matters through reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil and the unfavorable balance of payments that results, the report says. The recommendations mirror views of similar panels calling for increased energy R&D, but they fly in the face of new Republican Party House leaders who have vowed to reduce energy and environmental spending.