renewable electricity standard

Yesterday, from the White House, Vice President Biden released a new report, “The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy through Innovation,” which outlines how the administration’s $100 billion investment in innovation has been, for the most part, money well spent. In his remarks, Biden highlighted four key areas where stimulus money was working:

•Modernizing transportation

•Jumpstarting the renewable energy sector

•Investing in groundbreaking medical research

•Building a platform that will enhance the private sector’s

Below is the extended version of an Op-Ed by Applied Materials chairman and CEO Mike Splinter which was published in Dow Jones today:

In 1960 the semiconductor industry was in its infancy. The first integrated circuits contained just a few transistors and the production costs were about $1,000 per circuit in 1960 dollars.  The only viable applications for this early technology were two programs, the Minuteman missile and the Apollo space program. And these programs bought nearly every circuit produced between 1960 and 1963.

The result of this early market creation by these government programs was that the cost per circuit dropped to an astonishing 98 percent to $25 by 1963 -- and an industry was born. This year, the world will produce about a quintillion transistors or one to the 18th power and the semiconductor industry will generate about $300 billion in revenue. As for the cost per transistor – today’s $200 MP3 player produced in 1975 would have cost about $3 billion.

On behalf of Applied Materials, we commend Senators Kerry and Lieberman in advancing this key piece of a comprehensive renewable energy and climate package in the U.S. Senate.  Today's effort, when added to other legislative action, brings this country closer to regaining our position as a leader in the global clean energy technology industry.  This industry will create millions of jobs and billions of dollars of economic development in the coming decades and could be a major driver of our economic future.

What policies will allow the U.S. to claim leadership in climate change and renewable energy? Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) and CEO Mike Splinter talked about this topic during the Congressman’s visit to Applied Materials' Silicon Valley headquarters last week.

A diverse group of renewable energy companies and industry associations came together on Feb. 4 in Washington, D.C. to press the case for a strong national renewable electricity standard, or RES.