We Need More Green To 'Go Green', Says Panel

By AJ Swartwood

Daniel Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy at The Center for American Progress, outlined his concerns for the future of clean energy and pointed out that the United States has a long way to go to keep pace with a globalized economy.

Weiss, joined by a panel of green energy advocates, noted that the three key elements of a prosperous clean energy future are infrastructure, marketing and financing. During harsh economic times in the U.S. and the weakest global economic landscape that the world has seen in decades, the panel agreed that an often expensive push for clean energy can seem like an overwhelming obstacle.

“Financing is gonna be the biggest impediment… to advancing many of these technologies,” said Weiss.

Weiss believes the financial conundrum is not insurmountable and a variety of creative financial options have been introduced, including one that was featured in the American Clean Energy And Security Act that passed the Senate Environmental Committee. 

“We’ve been proponents of a Clean Energy Deployment Administration, which would have a sort of revolving loan guarantee fund for new and innovative technologies,” Weiss said. “We think that has a lot of promise.”