Honestly I'm a little shocked we're still in third place and not fourth or fifth.
(Reuters) - The United States fell one spot to third place in clean-energy investment last year as the lack of a national energy policy hurt purchases in wind and solar power and other technologies, a report said on Tuesday.
China came in first and Germany second, according to the report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race" by the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent, nonprofit group. [...]
A comprehensive energy bill died in the U.S. Senate last July. Washington also has failed to pass national mandates for utilities to produce minimum amounts of clean power that environmentalists and some analysts say would boost confidence for alternative energy companies to invest in the country.
Why did that comprehensive energy bill die in the senate? There are a variety of reasons, but one of the biggest excuses used for not voting for the bill was the existence of the "Climategate" emails. And that was just another manufactured scandal similar in tone to the creatively-edited ACORN and NPR videos.
I wouldn't bet on any useful legislation passing this congress between now and November 2012. Pressure will need to be placed on the next congress starting in 2013 while political capital is at a maximum to pass comprehensive energy legislation.