That's the premise of a ten-page survey of renewable energy by Dan Kammen in the Scientific American single-topic September 2006 special issue on the future of energy.

I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Kammen speak at a conference six months ago. He shared his insights on how public policy will affect companies in the renewable energy space. Kammen speaks with optimism and credibility. Not only is he a Berkeley professor of energy, public policy and nuclear engineering. Kammen is founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment.

Kammen ended that speech by emphasizing the direct relationship between R&D funding and the number of innovations in renewable energy. That's how he ended his Scientific American article, as well, giving a condensation of his essay last year in Issues in Science Technology entitled "Real Numbers: Reversing the Incredible Shrinking Energy R&D Budget."

After summarizing the state of the art and challenges in solar, wind and biofuels, the author reiterated some key points about shortsighted policy. Total private R&D funding for the entire energy sector is less than that of one large biotech company, he writes. Amgen's R&D expenses of US $2.3 billion in 2005 is nothing compared to what's needed in energy R&D to stabilize CO2 at double pre-industrial levels -- $15 to $30 billion, according to the previously cited article.

Kammen is no newcomer to the energy policy argument. He has been steadily promoting investment in energy R&D since the late 1990s, when he co-authored "Evidence of Under-Investment in Energy R&D Policy in the United States and the Impact of Federal Policy," in Energy Policy magazine.

Related articles:
"The Rise of Renewable Energy" (Scientific American article)
"Energy Policy: Shifting Landscape for Clean Tech Startups" (EP coverage of Kammen's speech in February)