The clean energy field will face some major financial hurdles in the years to come as government loans that have kept the industry afloat begin to dry up, according to a recently released report.
CNN reports on the research document:
Federal support for clean power "will have been largely dismantled by the end of 2014," a new report by a trio of think tanks warns. More than 70% of the programs now on the books—many of them part of the Obama administration's 2009 economic stimulus bill—are set to expire in the next two years, the report concludes.
"Neither Congress' attitude or the public purse right now is going to allow business as usual," said Mark Muro, policy director for the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program and one of the report's authors. But he said the end of programs in current law was in sight, "and it's going to be broader and deeper than people imagine. It's time to start thinking about this very seriously."
The report, "Beyond Boom and Bust," urges Washington to rethink rather than eliminate its support for projects that produce power with little or none of the carbon emissions most scientists blame for an increase in global temperatures. It was produced by Brookings, the Washington-based World Resources Institute and the Breakthrough Institute, a California-based center that focuses on energy and the environment.