On January 5th, 2014, 60 Minutes presented a news segment criticizing Cleantech, primarily expressing the issue of the amount of taxpayer money going into the project and the seemingly little gain or profit. Questions later arose asking whether Cleantech is worth further investment by the United States government. Especially with the many failures that were pointed out and very low rate of success in business. Despite all that, Cleantech should continue to receive funds for research and development for clean and renewable resources and technologies.

 Described by the Cleantech group web page, “Cleantech is new technology and related business models that offer competitive returns for investors and customers while providing solutions to global challenges.” They continue in saying that “cleantech addresses the roots of ecological problems with new science, emphasizing natural approaches such as biomimicry and biology.” Areas of Cleantech development include but are not limited to, solar power, wind power, geothermal, biofuels and energy storage.

Opponents may argue that billions of dollars have been invested in companies that quickly run out of business, that are not only private sector money but also taxpayer money. There is truth in that, but there have been many successes as well.

Consider the information-technology boom. It too had many failures and advances in the beginning. It was very slow to get off the ground and getting going, but eventually, when the demand of the consumers and the products of the companies were right, information-technology took off and is now ever advancing.

Although there is a major problem that Cleantech faces that information-technology never had an issue with. Cleantech is competing with cheap fossil fuels and big oil companies that have been getting subsidized far more than Cleantech has.

Fossil fuels will run out, and if there is no good alternative to fossil fuels when that happens, we will not be able to function as the same society we have all grown up with. And on top of that, India, China and other developing nations are heavily investing in Clean technology, so they will fly right by us on the economic skyline.

In Asia, the demand for energy is so high, and the available supply is so low, clean technology can satisfy their need almost entirely. It is cheaper to put up a wind turbine than it is the set up an oil rig or coal mine, and the wind turbine will never run out of available energy or be blamed for harming the environment.

If America wants to keep up in the global economic marketplace, it is imperative that we continue to invest both privately and publically in clean technology.