America needs clean energy

Two weeks ago, President Obama described in his State of the Union address our nation's need to out-innovate the rest of the world. As we listened, we could not help but think that one of the roads to the future runs through advanced energy manufacturing, and through Michigan.

As the President rightly pointed out, significant breakthrough innovations in our nation's history, from the great railroads to the Internet, came about as the result of robust public-private partnerships in which public and private investments help establish a foundation from which the private sector creates entirely new products and jobs.

We need to put aside rigid ideological arguments about the role of government as our state and the nation continue to grapple with the effects of the great recession and experience a fundamental economic transformation. We must support industries' innovative technologies.

Rest assured other nations like China, Korea and India are already doing so.

Nowhere is this public sector support more urgent than in clean energy. Energy is the lifeblood of our economy, and at the same time it is at the heart of some of our most intractable problems.

Every year we export hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign countries to buy oil. The handwriting is on the wall.

Sun, wind are the answer

Tomorrow's energy will increasingly come from the sun, wind, biofuels, hybrid technology and other resources we are just beginning to harness.

In Michigan, our revitalized auto industry is at the vanguard of clean energy innovation. The revolutionary Chevy Volt has begun to arrive in showrooms, and we were proud to be on hand when the first lithium-ion battery pack for the Volt rolled off the line in Brownstown Township. This was a particularly dramatic event because even a year ago the American advanced battery industry was virtually non-existent.

Today, there are dozens of private companies in this business creating jobs in the U.S. That is in no small measure because of the $2.4 billion in Recovery Act funding we fought for to support advanced battery and electric vehicle manufacturing, the majority of which came to Michigan.

But an effective public-private partnership is an ongoing and collaborative effort with industry. We've proposed extending the full $7,500 tax credit for purchasing a plug-in hybrid to the first 500,000 vehicles produced by each manufacturer, up from the first 200,000. Raising the cap will help carmakers reach the demand and production scale economically necessary for the long-term viability of these innovative vehicles.

We also need to restore the 50 percent tax credit for electric vehicle recharging stations. In short, we need to continuously work to ensure that the private sector can operate in an environment that encourages innovation and investment.

More federal help needed

This principle goes well beyond the electric car. The Recovery Act included $2.3 billion in tax credits to encourage advanced energy manufacturing.

These tax credits have leveraged private capital for a total investment of $7.7 billion in solar, wind and other high-tech manufacturing. Michigan companies received $238 million in credits, including $142 million to help Hemlock Semiconductor maintain its global leadership in producing the polycrystalline-silicon used in the manufacturing of solar panels.

Building on these successful incentives is vital as we seek to lay the foundation for a new era in American manufacturing and innovation, one based on partnership and focused in Michigan.

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