au.news.yahoo.com
12 Apr 2012,
WASHINGTON (AFP)-The United States has regained the lead in the clean energy race, investing $48 billion last year to surpass China, which held the world's top spending spot since 2009, said a study Wednesday. The US surge in private investment was a 42% increase over 2010 and saw Washington maintain its lead worldwide in both venture capital and research and development cash, said the Pew Research Center Charitable Trusts annual report on clean energy.
However, the US boom was largely driven by expiring tax incentives, highlighting "a persistent phenomenon in which the country fails to deploy into the marketplace the clean energy innovations it creates in the laboratory", it said. China, which fell to second, invested $45.5 billion last year, a one% increase over 2010, but maintained its global lead in wind power investment and in solar manufacturing, said the report.
Experts say a key difference between the United States and China is in how they attract investment--China by having solid green energy policies that reassure investors and the United States by offering tax breaks for investment. "China has been able to fuel its growth by having very consistent and long-term policies in place that really tell investors there is an opportunity for them to make a profit", said Phyllis Cuttino, director of Pew Research Center's Clean Energy Program.
"The United States has no renewable energy target but they have decided to try and incentivize clean energy investment through a variety of tax incentives, tax credits, tax subsidies, loan guarantees", she told AFP.
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