We're number … 3??

Not much of a cheer, is it? But, that's the word from the Pew Charitable Trusts, which reported recently that the U.S. dropped another place, to third, in clean-energy investment in 2010.

The report, “Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race,” found that the U.S., with $34 billion in spending during the year on clean energy, trailed China ($54.4 billion) and Germany ($41.2 billion), after falling behind China in 2009.

In an interview with Reuters's Timothy Gardner, former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, a Pew advisor, commented, “There had been a theory out there that China was rising so fast in clean energy because of its low labor costs. This is not about labor costs, this is about policy.”

According to the report, both China and Germany have national minimum clean-energy targets (such as would be provided by a Renewable Electricity Standard), that have contributed to their progress.