This report examines Federal programs, policies, and measures that encourage the
commercialization and deployment of technologies that reduce, avoid, or capture
and store emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Prepared in fulfillment of certain requirements of the
Energy Policy Act, as amended in 2005, it
inventories prospective technologies, assesses their current development status,
identifies barriers, risks and other obstacles to their greater
deployment, describes strategies to address these
obstacles as a means for accelerating deployment, and outlines opportunities
for the future.

As requested by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), this report examines
global markets for renewable energy services as well as issues related to the international
trade of these services, for the purpose of providing information that would be useful in
conducting trade negotiations and environmental reviews. The report finds that demand
for renewable energy services is driven largely by government policies including those
that stem from national obligations under international environmental agreements. To
a lesser extent, demand for renewable energy services is also derived from technological
advances that have improved the cost-competitiveness of renewable energy technologies,
concerns regarding the environment and energy security, and other factors. While the
wind energy industry is the largest in terms of installed capacity among the five
renewable energy sectors (which are: wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and ocean
energy) discussed in this report, the biomass energy industry is the largest in terms of
electricity generation. The United States is the world’s largest market for biomass and
geothermal power, while Germany, Japan, and France are the largest markets for wind
power, solar power, and ocean power, respectively. There are few barriers that
specifically target trade and investment in the renewable energy services sector, although
regulatory barriers that apply separately to related sectors, or horizontally to all industry
sectors, may affect trade and investment in the renewable energy industry.