Center for Clean Energy Innovation
Innovation to make energy both clean and competitive must be a central goal of climate and energy policy. ITIF’s Center for Clean Energy Innovation exists to elevate this imperative in the policy debate in the United States and around the world. We conduct research, provide nonpartisan analysis, generate policy proposals, and convene members of the analytical and policymaking communities with this mission firmly in focus. (Read more about the Center.)
- Spotlight: Building the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI)—The Center was instrumental in developing the congressionally chartered nonprofit foundation that was included in the 2022 CHIPS Plus Science bill to assist DOE and advance its mission, and we are continuing to support FESI’s ramp-up.
- Spotlight: Expanding DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations—Congress authorized and funded a new DOE office in 2021 to pursue large-scale energy demonstration projects. The Center has an ongoing stream of analytical and outreach work seeking to expand that portfolio of projects and improve their management. (See past editions of our “OCED Observatory Newsletter.”)
- Spotlight: Tracking funding pathways for RD&D at the U.S. Department of Energy over time and across programs and subprograms. See the interactive data visualization.
- Make a tax-exempt donation to support the program—as The New York Times and Vox have recommended as one the most effective ways to fight climate change based on evidence-based analysis.
Featured Publications
US State and Regional Energy Innovation Index
Vibrant regional energy innovation ecosystems are important for any national net-zero strategy. But to understand the potential contributions they can make to the price and performance of clean energy technologies, we must first benchmark the resources they bring to bear.
How Federal Funding for Basic Research Spurs Clean Energy Discoveries the World Needs: Eight Case Studies
We need new breakthroughs in clean energy technology to address climate change. Recent discoveries in areas such as nuclear fusion and biofuels illustrate how government investment in early-stage research is a critical part of the process.
A Realist Approach to Hydrogen
Clean hydrogen is expensive to produce, difficult to transport, and a second- or third-best clean energy solution in almost all proposed markets. To help drive the global green transition, a realist approach to hydrogen policy must address all these practical challenges.
Mission Innovation, Phase 2: More Failed Aspirations to Fight Climate Change
Twenty-three countries plus the EU pledged in 2015 to double their investments in clean energy RD&D by 2020. Only one met that goal. Undeterred, they announced a new set of pledges in 2021. Two years later, most are still woefully underinvesting in clean energy RD&D.
Beyond Force: A Realist Pathway Through the Green Transition
Trying to force adoption of clean energy with subsidies, regulations, and exhortations will fail. The only realistic way to spur the green transition is to develop clean technologies that can reach effective price and performance parity with dirty ones. Then markets will adopt them at scale.
Events
March 21, 2024
The Crucial Role of Early-Stage University Research in Clean Energy Innovation
Please join ITIF for an expert panel discussion about a new report examining the role of federal funding for clean energy research conducted by colleges and universities.
July 25, 2023
A Realist Climate Policy: Driving Clean Tech to Price/Performance Parity
Watch now for the release event for the important new report and panel discussion on why P3 must be the new lens governments that governments must use to decide which clean energy technologies to support and how to support them.
July 20, 2023
Reimagining Energy Permitting for the 21st Century
Watch now for the Capitol Hill briefing event featuring keynote remarks by Reps. Garret Graves (R-LA) and Scott Peters (D-CA) followed by an expert panel discussion on ways Congress can reduce barriers to digital energy solutions, increase new energy infrastructure technologies, and modernize our entire energy infrastructure.
May 30, 2023
Further Energizing Innovation: Assessing the Federal Energy RD&D Budget for FY24 and Beyond
Watch the Center for Clean Energy Innovation’s release event covering their annual report on the federal energy RD&D budget; discussion by expert panel covering how the funding aligns with these key priorities.
March 16, 2023
Petrochemicals Without the Petro: A New Initiative?
Watch to learn more about these exciting innovations and to discuss a federal initiative (such as a DOE EarthShot) to accelerate them.
Nonresident Senior Fellow
ITIF Center for Clean Energy Innovation and Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability
Read BioMore From the Center
May 10, 2024|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
New DOE Foundation Should Think Big
Establishing the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (FESI) was a vital initial step, but its value will depend on what happens next.
March 6, 2024|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
Let’s Be Realistic About Green Hydrogen
Like any new technology, green hydrogen must meet three related challenges: production, distribution and adoption. But it faces far higher-than-advertised hurdles at every stage.
February 12, 2024|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
The Blue Hydrogen Bubble Must Burst
In order for blue hydrogen to decarbonize hard-to-reach sectors like aviation, heavy trucks, shipping, steel, and cement, blue hydrogen must slash costs and effectively capture and either store or use the carbon that’s generated.
January 8, 2024|Blogs
What COP28 Missed: A Realist Climate Policy
Instead of magical thinking that starts with a conclusion and works backward, we need a strategic framework that encourages smart decisions on priorities and maximizes the return on scarce political capital—a strategy that connects the economics, technology, and politics of the green transition.
September 8, 2023|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
Price Over Performance: Why Green Energy Is Different From Previous Technology Revolutions
The drivers that accelerated every transformative innovation since the industrial revolution won’t work for green tech.
September 3, 2023|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
Is Korea Serious About Fighting Climate Change?
When it comes to the most important step Korea can take to address global climate change―boosting clean energy R&D―Korea, like most developed nations, is lagging.
August 22, 2023|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
Green Transition: How Agriculture Can Drive Climate Change Solutions
Trying to force the green transition with government regulations, subsidies, and exhortation will not work. The economic reality is that clean energy technologies must reach price/performance parity with dirty energy (P3).
