If we lived in a more reasonable- some might say more sane- world, the need to adapt to a warming world would not be a political issue. Alas, we are here on Earth, not on Planet Reasonable, and the new administration In Washington seems hell-bent on undoing any climate legislation or environmental protection seemingly out of nothing more than greed and spite.
But even if all federal investment is canceled, solar (and renewable energy generally) cannot be stopped.
Even without subsidies, the cost of solar power has dropped almost 85% from 2010 to 2023, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The cost of wind power has dropped 70% over the same period. Renewables now account for about 20% of U.S. energy production, about double the amount in 2010.
And that number is expected to grow. “The power sector is, year on year, adding a lot more renewables, and in particular solar. Solar is getting cheaper and its adoption is scaling,” said Thomas Rowlands-Rees, head of North America Research at BloombergNEF.
Even if the federal tax credits under the IRA get shortened or repealed, Rowlands-Rees says solar power is here to stay.
Without the IRA, he said “build is less than it would have been, because obviously there’s not an incentive to support it, but it is not as impacted as you might think.”
At the same time, it’s expected that natural gas production and consumption will also rise; every silver lining has its cloud.
You can read more about this on TheHill.com here.
Still, quicker adoption means less pollution, less sickness and more clean energy jobs. If you think those are important, please call your Congressional representative and let them know you support continuing funding for Solar for All. Here’s a link to the campaign being spearheaded by our friends at Vote Solar. Solar for All helps get clean energy to some of the communities across the country that need it the most!
