Recommendations

Excerpts from the findings and recommendations of Powering America’s Economy: Energy Innovation at the Crossroads of National Security Challenges

The United States government should take bold and aggressive action to support clean energy technology innovation and rapidly decrease the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.

“The problems that the nation faces as a result of its heavy dependence on fossil fuels are serious and increasing. Such large-scale challenges will require large-scale solutions. To successfully meet these challenges, United States policy-makers must provide a clear and predictable market signal for investment, development, and scale-up of clean energy technologies

The Departments of Defense and Energy should more closely align their energy-related research and development activities, funding priorities, and intellectual capital.

“The Department of Energy has a robust research and development base for energy technologies, and DOE’s knowledge base represents a largely untapped resource for DOD. In addition, DOD could be of great value to DOE because of its large-scale ability to demonstrate, test, fund, and field new energy technologies. By clearly aligning DOD and DOE goals and talented personnel at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels, clean energy technologies could be greatly accelerated through the innovation pipeline.”

The Department of Defense should partner with private sector innovators and establish an Operational Energy Innovation Center.

“…DOD should take steps to ensure that it receives input from all innovators, including those in the smallest companies… to address its most urgent energy concerns, DOD could combine the innovators from nascent businesses with researchers from larger private firms, universities, and national laboratories in an Operational Energy Innovation Center, modeled on DOE’s Innovation Hubs. The Center could be funded through a competitive Operational Energy Innovation Fund.”

The Department of Defense should require widespread sharing of energy information in its research and development enterprise.

“The Department of Defense has a well-established and well-funded research and development base, but its complexity results in duplication of effort, inefficient use of taxpayer dollars, and delays in developing and deploying beneficial technologies… By establishing [a] structured means of sharing information about funding and results of energy research and development, DOD’s constituent agencies and the military services could better leverage the funding they expend and help to accelerate the testing and deployment of innovative energy technologies.”

The Department of Defense should include acquiring clean energy technologies as a priority in its installation acquisition strategy.

“The Department of Defense can support the deployment and commercialization of clean energy technologies by prioritizing them in its installation acquisition strategy… To help provide an initial market for new clean energy technologies, DOD should incentivize the purchase of clean energy products over older energy technologies.”