Are We Falling Behind?

           
 America is now staring at a potential trillion dollar industry. Demand for clean renewable energy is predicted to increase immensely over the next twenty years. A 13 trillion dollar increase in investments in clean energy is said to be made within the next twenty years. As of now, America has the advantage over other countries in this field, however, in 2009 China invested around 10 Billion dollars more than the U.S. into the clean energy field.

Jobs

 The lower environmental cost is said to cause a spike in demand for things such as hybrid and electric cars. Through this spike in demand, it is predicted that the U.S. can produce around 1.9 million new jobs in the clean energy field. With a major concern in this country being putting people back to work, this seems to be a possible solution. With such a great opportunity being right here in front of the U.S. it is urgent that American investment in clean energy is increased.

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Opportunity

The opportunity that the U.S. has been given is one that cannot be passed up, yet, the government is still showing hesitation when it comes to completely backing the industry and moving away from foreign oil. If the government does not act soon, the research and progress that has been made can possibly go to waste. All to often it seems as if big oil companies have to heavy of an influence in the government. The U.S. needs to use the tobacco companies as an example. The U.S. government  needs to do the right thing here and start increasing reliance on clean energy even if it means less profit for big oil companies. It is essential that the U.S. utilizes these energy sources while it still has the advantage over other companies. If it begins to fall behind, all investments to this point may go to waste.

How aggressive should the government be in investing in clean energy?

              Stevenson, Andy, and Nicole Lederer. "Putting America First in the Clean Energy Jobs Race."Switchboard. N.p., 4 Feb. 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/astevenson/putting_american_first_in_the.html>.