How far behind are we on the 'Green Wave'?

I consider the US to have the most innovative, educated, and motivated people in the world. However, we have a hard time harnessing that motivated, educated creativity as, for example, we seem to invest in old technology and industry rather than increasing support to new technologies. Our tax dollars paid for the development of the internet, aerospace advancement, etc. and though there have been tremendous advancement toward the support of green technology development and practices, we are behind. What this means is when we need green technologies, we are going to have to spend out tax in other countries and on other educated, motivated and innovative people. If we invest in our tech and people now, won’t that prevent spending money abroad later?