Gates wants U.S. to spend more on energy research and development

WASHINGTON — Bill Gates and a half-dozen corporate chief executives will urge President Obama to sharply increase federal spending on clean-energy research and to create centers for energy technology innovation at a White House meeting on Thursday.

The group is calling for government spending of at least $16 billion a year on energy research and development (R&D) — a fivefold increase — and the creation of a National Energy Strategy Board that would help decide where to channel the money.

Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, says he wants the government to do for the energy industry what it did for computer technology decades ago.

"The Internet and the microprocessor, which were very fundamental to Microsoft being able to take the magic of software and having the PC explode, were among many of the elements that came through government research and development," he said.

The group is arguing that while the United States spends $80 billion a year on military research and $30 billion a year on health research, it devotes $2.8 billion to $4.8 billion on energy research, depending on how you count it. This year and last were exceptions, thanks to the roughly $70 billion in grants and loans for energy contained in the 2009 stimulus bill.

"We spend $80 billion a year on military R&D and we're good at shooting people," Gates said. "You get what you pay for."

And when it comes to energy, the United States isn't paying for much, he said. According to the group, which is calling itself the American Energy Innovation Council, R&D in energy accounts for a quarter of 1 percent of the industry's revenues, while R&D in technology comes to between 5 percent and 15 percent of tech-industry revenues.

Other members of the group are Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr; General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt; former Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Norm Augustine; Xerox Chief Executive Ursula Burns; former DuPont Chief Executive Charles Holliday; and Cummins Chief Executive Tim Solso.