Today, as the ARPA-E 2012 summit kicks off, the Pew Charitable Trusts and Americans for Energy Leadership (AEL) announced that our two groups are joining forces to launch Americans for Energy Innovation, a new campaign to strengthen the nation’s commitment to clean energy and technological competitiveness.
Pew’s press release is published here: Pew Clean Energy Program Launches Innovation Initiative
Fact-sheet is published here: Innovation Drives Investment, Job Growth, Manufacturing
In recent years, the expert consensus on the need to expand federal investment in energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) has become increasingly formidable, with a wide range of groups calling to triple the current budget to $15 billion annually. Yet what has still been lacking is a serious national operation to build broad-based support and translate this consensus into policy reality.
Americans for Energy Innovation will help to fill this critical gap and deliver on the promise of U.S. technological leadership. Building on AEL’s efforts to date, and collaborating with the broader energy and innovation community, Pew will leverage its extensive national field operation, work with its network of more than 2,000 clean energy businesses, and engage a wide variety of stakeholders to support the optimization and expansion of federal energy RD&D — including entrepreneurs, universities and academics, policy advocates and analysts, business leaders, and investors.
This is an exciting development for AEL and our community. Since our founding in 2009, AEL has become a leading national group working to advance a federal energy innovation agenda and train the next generation of energy policy leaders. Even as the first phase of AEL comes to a close, joining forces with the Pew Clean Energy Program will take our efforts to the next level and ensure a long-term commitment to AEL’s mission. Pew offers a truly unique set of resources to take these efforts forward, and we’re very hopeful about the campaign’s future.
Of course, this is only the beginning, and Pew looks forward to getting started with the broader energy innovation community. For now, we encourage you to review Pew’s press release, fact-sheet, and innovation webpage, and stay tuned for upcoming developments and opportunities to get involved.
Finally, a big thank you to all of AEL’s colleagues and supporters, and special thanks to the Nathan Cummings Foundation for its generous support. This wouldn’t have been possible without all your guidance and commitment over the past couple years, and I’m sincerely grateful for everything. I look forward to our continued work over the months and years ahead.
Many thanks, and onwards,
Teryn Norris
Founder & President
Americans for Energy Leadership