[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 31, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9312-S9313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I want to express my support of Jeffords-
Roth-Leahy renewable energy amendment. This amendment will restore 
funding for the Department of Energy solar and renewable energy 
research and development program to the amount appropriated in fiscal 
year 1996.
  I want to thank Senator Jeffords for offering this amendment because 
I believe that our country's renewable energy program is at an 
important watershed. With support from Congress and the Federal 
Government, our Nation can forge ahead in developing reliable and cost-
effective renewable technologies. We can also position our renewable 
energy industry to capture its share of the rapidly expanding market of 
solar and other renewable technologies. And, we can expand power 
generation capacity in an environmentally responsible manner.
  In recent years, energy efficiency and renewable energy programs have 
been remarkably successful and have created a new industry capable of 
world leadership in a very important technology sector. Energy 
efficient technologies are generating billions of dollars of consumer 
energy savings and new business opportunities and play an important 
role in job creation, according to a study by energy expert Daniel 
Yergin. If we retreat from this promising growth industry, as we did 
throughout the decade of 1980s, our international competitors will 
quickly carve up a market that will exceed a billion dollars by the 
turn of the century.

[[Page S9313]]

  We should not reduce funding for renewable R&D and allow this 
initiative to sputter and stall. We must move forward, as other 
countries are doing, and make essential investments in technologies 
that will create new jobs, open export markets, and promote a healthy 
environment. This is the choice we have made in approving this 
amendment.
  At stake is our ability to compete in an international energy market 
that will experience explosive growth in the decades ahead. Many 
countries cannot afford to meet the growing energy demand by building, 
operating, and maintaining centralized power plants and the costly 
infrastructure associated with them. The flexibility offered by 
renewable technologies is a natural fit for the developing world.
  Countries around the world are also making conscious strategic 
decisions to endorse and adopt renewable energy as a mainstay of their 
energy policy. These policies may lead to the amelioration of problems 
associated with global climate change.
  The past decade was a period of unparalleled success in the drive to 
reduce the cost of solar and renewable technologies. Some are at the 
verge of becoming cost competitive with conventional energy sources. 
This trend will continue to improve in the years ahead. As these 
technologies become more and more cost competitive, the rate at which 
these technologies are integrated into the energy grid will steadily 
increase.

  What is at stake is the ability of a young, dynamic industry to 
capture the world markets for renewable technologies so that Americans 
can hold their share of rewarding, high paying jobs. That is what the 
Jeffords amendment is all about. If we are to move into the future with 
a strong economy and a healthy environment, renewable energy 
technologies must be a part of our investment strategy for the future.
  Although the value of U.S. renewable energy exports exceeds a quarter 
of a billion dollars, the U.S. renewable energy industry is barely 
penetrating the expanding world market for renewable energy 
technologies. This is a result of a weak commitment to renewable energy 
research, development, and export promotion.
  Compared with seven other leading trading nations, the United States 
ranks lowest in resources allocated to solar and renewable export 
promotion, according to a 1992 Department of Energy report.
  National Science Foundation data confirms that the U.S. investment in 
R&D is in decline. Since 1987, Federal R&D investments have dropped 
steadily in real terms. Since 1992, industry R&D has stagnated. And 
today, less than one-third of private R&D is dedicated to research; the 
rest is being spent on product and process development.
  I support the Jeffords amendment because I want to reverse this 
trend. Frankly, I would have preferred higher spending levels for solar 
and renewable programs, but this is not realistic given the budget 
constraints we face. Unless we maintain a reasonable funding level for 
these programs, we will continue to lose ground and should not be 
surprised if other countries outcompete U.S. industry in this rapidly 
expanding market.
  Finally, there are important energy security reasons for supporting 
this amendment. U.S. oil imports are at record levels, are continuing 
to grow, and could reach 60 percent of consumption by the year 2005. 
Oil imports that high would contribute nearly $90 billion to the trade 
deficit. According to a recent Department of Commerce analysis, this 
level of oil imports constitutes a threat to U.S. economic security. 
Persian Gulf countries are projected to control 70 percent of the 
global market for oil by the year 2010, making world oil markets 
increasingly unstable.
  Renewable energy technologies will lead to significant movement 
toward alleviating some of the potential negative consequences of our 
continuing and increasing reliance on imported oil.

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