Bill Gates warns US govt on missing the clean energy boat

US billionaire and Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, last week reiterated his warning to the US government that it must wake up to realities and triple its investment in green technologies in order to continue to compete effectively on the world markets.

Gates has long urged the US government to triple its investment in green technologies to USD16 billion annually, warning the country is lagging behind many other countries like China in developing a green economy.

In a blog appearing in the website Science, Gates said the US government should restore investment in energy research and development, which has fallen to USD5 billion a year during the past three decades.

“In a time of economic crisis, asking policy-makers in Washington, DC, to spend more money might not be the most popular position. But it's essential to protect America's national interests and ensure that the United States plays a leading role in the fast-growing global clean energy industry.

There is really no other choice. Carbon-based fuels are prone to wild price gyrations and are causing the planet to overheat. The United States spends close to USD1 billion a day on foreign oil, while countries such as China, Germany, Japan, and Korea are making huge investments in clean energy technologies,” Gates wrote

Citing a recent report by the American Energy Innovation Council, Gates said the government could pay for the increased investment by reducing or eliminating current subsidies to well-established energy industries, diverting a portion of royalties from domestic energy production, collecting a small fee on electricity sales, or imposing a price on carbon.