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Investors interested in America’s nascent, clean energy industry are looking for a long-term relationship. But clean energy experts say both the U.S. and Oregon look more like a one-night stand when it comes to long-term funding strategies for energy projects.

After the U.S. Senate this summer abandoned efforts to pass a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill, clean energy proponents say Oregon’s chances of becoming a major player in the energy game are slimmer. A long-term funding strategy for building new clean energy projects and businesses in Oregon is needed for the industry’s survival, according to Robert Grott, executive director of the Northwest Environmental Business Council.

A climate bill proposed this year by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass, and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., would have put a price on carbon emissions, encouraging investment in cleaner energy sources by businesses and utilities.

“The fact that we didn’t put a price on carbon postponed the development of the industry,” Grott said. “Meanwhile China is putting massive investments and subsidies into renewables, regardless of a carbon tax. We will lose this industry if we don’t find a way to continue supporting it.”

China invested $36.4 billion in clean energy in 2009 while the U.S. invested only $18.6 billion, according to a report from American Businesses for Clean Energy. And two months after the U.S. abandoned its energy bill, the country lags more than $11 billion behind China and other nations in clean energy investments. China also recently overtook the U.S. to lead a quarterly index of the most attractive countries for renewable energy projects, according to .

Oregon has had moderate success attracting clean energy investments, said Michael Upp, vice president of marketing for ClearEdge. The Hillsboro-based company manufactures a system that uses fuel cells to convert natural gas into electricity to power homes and small commercial buildings. Though ClearEdge has continued to grow in Oregon, Upp is disappointed by the state of tax credits and other incentives for clean energy development.

“I think the government could crank up the incentives,” Upp said. “If you look at the long-term economic benefit and carbon benefit of having more clean energy devices, it seems shortsighted to be decreasing these credits. The amount of money we have lost to China from our leadership with solar is sickening.”

Though many city governments in Oregon have adopted clean energy as a business growth strategy, Lisa Adatto, the state director of Climate Solutions, says Oregon isn’t meeting those goals with its current tool belt of energy incentives.

The state has experienced the most success helping clean energy projects with its . But a year’s worth of cuts and tweaks to the tax credit, and uncertainty over what changes will be made to it in the future, weakened BETC’s allure to clean energy investors, Grott said.

“Although it may have seemed expensive in terms of the dollars and that it was taken advantage to a greater degree than expected, BETC had tremendous results,” Grott said. “In return for the money, we gained an industry.”

While the state’s renewable portfolio standard requires utilities to use renewable energy, only large wind projects are supported, Adatto said. Utilities are required to buy the renewable with the lowest price, which is wind. To ramp up investments in other clean energy sources, like solar, something else will have to be done.

“We’ve been successful with our renewable portfolio standard, Energy Trust of Oregon incentives and pilot feed-in tariff for solar,” Adatto said. “But we still aren’t meeting our goals. There’s more clean energy to be harvested here, so we must continue on with investments in that direction.”

One solution being explored by Adatto and Grott is the State Energy Loan Program. It’s funded through state bonds and offers low-interest loans for renewable energy projects. It doesn’t, however, provide loans for construction projects, for which renewable energy developers need the most assistance, Grott said. His group, along with a coalition of 15 other industry and economic development organizations are putting together a proposal to give the State Energy Loan Program more authority, and funding, to take risks on loans to clean energy projects.

“Construction loans are a key need in clean energy project development,” Grott said. “We plan to inform legislators of the economic benefits of a strong energy industry with the hope that the State Energy Loan Program can be improved.”

Grott and Adatto will be presenting their ideas to the 2011 Legislature. In the meantime, Grott hopes federal legislators will create a long-term plan to drive forward the country’s most promising industry.

“Our habit of only approving tax credits and incentives for two years at a time doesn’t help,” Grott said. “We’ve already started and abandoned our wind turbine industry to other countries. A national standard is ultimately what we need to maintain our share of this market.”