WASHINGTON, April 12 (UPI) -- The United States is leading in the global clean energy race but may fall behind because of expiring financial incentives, The Pew Charitable Trusts finds.
Pew found that the United States increased its green energy investments last year by 42 percent -- $48 billion -- compared with 2010 levels. That helped add more than 1 gigawatt of solar power and 6.7 gigawatts of wind energy to the grid last year.
Phyllis Cuttino, director of clean energy programs at Pew, said those developments put the United States at the top after it fell behind China in 2009.
"In 2011, the global clean energy sector grew again, the U.S. reclaimed its lead as the top destination for private investment and consumers reaped the rewards of significantly reduced prices for clean energy technologies, such as solar panels, which are now nearly 50 percent cheaper than a year ago," she said in a statement.
China was close behind the United States in clean energy investments with $45.5 billion last year, followed by Germany's $30.6 billion.
Cuttino warned, however, that the United States likely wouldn't hold the lead for long. Clean-energy grants provided by the U.S. Treasury Department have expired and tax credit programs are set to conclude at the end of the year.
"(T)he yo-yo effect of U.S. clean energy policy hurts the ability of the United States to consistently compete and turn U.S.-led innovation into manufacturing, deployment, and export opportunities," she said. "Creative, stable and transparent policies remain a critical signal to private investors."
