Can a massive government spending program bring us closer to a clean energy economy and help fight climate change?

Absolutely, say some of the America's most powerful CEOs and ex-CEOs, capitalists all.

Microsoft's Bill Gates, Jeff Immelt of GE, Ursula Burns of Xerox, Tim Solso of Cummins and former CEOs Chad Holliday of DuPont and Norman Augustine of Lockheed Martin, along with venture capitalist John Doerr, came to Washington earlier this month to release a new report calling for the government to invest in energy innovation.

They're calling for $16 billion a year to be spent on energy R&D. That's more than three times the current Department of Energy research budget -- although last year's stimulus package included a one-time boost of about $37 billion for the DOE.

Yes, it's a lot of money, but as John Doerr put it: "Americans today spend more money on potato chips than we do on energy R&D." Yikes.

The CEOs held a press conference at the Newseum and then took their message to the White House, where they were scheduled to meet with President Obama. They were also headed for Capitol Hill, which energy-and-climate legislation has been stalled for months.

"Our job is to keep agitating and be a force for positive change," Immelt said at the press event.

If America doesn't get its clean-energy industry going, the GE chief said, "everybody else around the world will. This is a primary pillar of national competitiveness."

Now let's be clear -- there is obviously some self-interest at work here. GE and Cummins, which makes diesel engines, would both benefit if the government helps research and finance clean energy. (See GE and Washington: Too cozy?) The same is true for Kleiner Perkins, which has invested in startups that need financing to get to the next level, companies like the biofuels firm Amyris and Bloom Energy, which makes fuel cells.

But this group was brought together by Gates, who is spending more time focusing on energy and climate, and it includes retired CEOs like Holliday and Augustine, who have no stake in government handouts or guarantees. Call me naïve if you like, but I think they they're putting their time into this because they are worried about the future. As they write in the report:

the energy challenge is much worse than most people realize. The problem is already imposing a heavy burden on our nation -- a burden that will become even more costly. The economic, national security, environmental and climate costs of our current energy system will condemn our children to a seriously constrained future unless America makes significant changes to current policies and trends.

Next page: Can the government spend that much money smartly?