energy research and development: Declining investment, increasing need, and the feasibility of expansion, Energy Policy 35(1): 746–755

Investment in energy research and development in the U.S. is de-clining despite calls for an enhancement of the nation’s capacity for in-novation to address environmental, geopolitical, and macro-economic concerns. I examine investments in research and development in the energy sector, and observe broad-based declines in funding since the mid-1990s. The large reductions in investment by the private sector should be a particular area of concern for policy makers. Multiple measures of patenting activity reveal widespread declines in innova-tive activity that are correlated with R&D investment—notably in the environmentally significant wind and solar areas. Trends in venture capital investment and fuel cell innovation are two promising cases that run counter to the overall trends in the sector. I draw on prior work on the optimal level of energy R&D to identify a range of values which would be adequate to address energy-related concerns. Compar-ing simple scenarios based on this range to past public R&D programs and industry investment data indicates that a five to ten-fold increase in energy R&D investment is both warranted and feasible. 1