The United States "spends more on potato chips than we do on ALL energy R&D."
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A worker steps down from a geothermal drilling platform at Newberry Crater near LaPine, Ore. (AP/Don Ryan)
Does the U.S. spend more on potato chips than energy research?
U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., said in a recent tweet that "our country spends more on potato chips than we do on ALL energy R&D," or research and development.
That struck us as a creative comparison. But is it correct? We took a closer look. (McKinley's office did not respond to an inquiry.)
Odd pairing or not, we discovered that the comparison has been circulating for almost a decade, appearing in a 2010 report published by the National Academy of Sciences.
The report said, "United States consumers spend significantly more on potato chips than the government devotes to energy R&D." It cited a 2009 U.S. potato chip sales figure of $7.1 billion and federal government spending on energy R&D totaling $5.1 billion.
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We wondered whether the data was roughly the same today.
For potato chip sales we located a study by the market research publisher Packaged Facts that pegged U.S. potato chip sales in 2015 at $7.5 billion.
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As for research funding, the amount allocated to the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Science in fiscal year 2018 was $5.4 billion. And not all that amount was for energy research specifically; some went for nuclear physics and computing technology.
So potato chip sales in the United States almost certainly continues to exceed what the federal government spends on energy research.
Our ruling
McKinley tweeted, "Our country spends more on potato chips than we do on ALL energy R&D." This nearly decade-old comparison still holds up today. We rate it True.
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Our Sources
David McKinley, tweet, Nov. 15, 2018
National Academy of Sciences, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited," 2010
Packaged Facts, "Healthy Trends, Convenience Sustaining $22 Billion U.S. Salty Snacks Market," Feb. 29, 2016
Energy Department, fiscal year 2019 Congressional Budget Request, accessed Dec. 5, 2018
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