Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission

This report proposes that the United States should launch a National Energy Innovation Mission. Led by the president and authorized by Congress, this mission should harness the nation’s unmatched innovative capabilities—at research universities, federal laboratories, and private firms (both large and small), in all regions of the country—to speed the progress of clean energy technologies. To jumpstart this mission and unlock a virtuous cycle of public and private investment, the US federal government should triple its funding for energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) over the next five years, including in a federal RD&D initiative for carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

Although a growing bipartisan chorus is calling for more ambitious public investment in clean energy innovation, no detailed roadmap exists for how Congress and federal agencies can most effectively increase funding. This volume aims to fill that gap. It offers policymakers a strategic framework to build a growing RD&D portfolio over the next five years, detailed funding proposals across the full spectrum of critical energy technologies, and recommendations for immediate action. In making these proposals, it surveyed the scholarly literature, distilled decades of US historical experience, drawn on dozens of legislative proposals, and assembled the most up-to- date database of federal clean energy RD&D funding to derive lessons for maximizing the return on public investment.