Upstate New York companies and government agencies are already facing tough competition from China, a leader in the development of the clean energy sector.
Some critics assert that characterizing the intense competition as a "race" obscures the climate benefits of greater clean energy deployment throughout the world and the "win-win" nature of a global clean energy economy.
For the United States to build a thriving domestic clean tech industry it will have to stay one step ahead of the competition, quickly developing and commercializing the next generation of clean energy technologies to make them cheaper and more reliable.
At the launch of acompetition to design it, I specifically remember it becoming about providing a green, clean bus to try and solve the air pollution crisis in London.