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 our “OCED Observatory Newsletter,” and contact Hannah Boyles if you’d like to be added to its email list.
- 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.
- Stay up to date with the Center’s work by signing up for ITIF’s weekly emails and checking the box for more on “Clean Energy Innovation.”
- 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
Events
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.
October 27, 2022
Mission Critical: Accelerating Innovation at COP 27
Watch thought leaders from ITIF, IIT-Delhi School of Public Policy, and the Climate Policy Lab at The Fletcher School, Tufts University share their visions for a successful COP for innovation, building off the September 12th forum published in Nature Energy.
Staff
More From the Center
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).
August 4, 2023|Blogs
Biological Solutions to Climate Challenges Deserve More Attention
Clean energy technologies need to reach price/performance parity with dirty energy—and biology may well be the most promising source for innovations that can achieve that goal.
July 25, 2023|Op-Eds & Contributed Articles
A Realist Pathway Through the Green Transition
The harsh reality is that until clean energy is as cheap and performs as well as dirty energy, the world will not adopt it at anything like the needed scale. So, governments must focus on developing clean energy sources at price and performance parity with dirty fuels — “P3.”
July 24, 2023|Testimonies & Filings
Comments to the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations at DOE Regarding Use of Demand-side Support for H2Hubs
Compared to grey hydrogen, clean hydrogen is significantly more costly—about three times for blue hydrogen and six times for green hydrogen. Demand-side support can help accelerate development and reach Nth-of-a-kind stages, supporting DOE’s mission by providing a predictable commercial market for clean hydrogen.
July 21, 2023|Blogs
House Republican Opposition to DOD Clean Energy Technology Is Misguided
A group of House members, including defense appropriators, have questioned Pentagon spending on energy technology seen as “green,” including EVs, solar photovoltaics, and energy storage technology. But DOD is electrifying the battlefield not to be green, but to improve combat performance, which increasingly turns on technology that runs on electricity.