By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –
I’ve been a booster of renewable energy for years and years. I can remember when readers would taunt me that only one percent of US electricity came from non-hydro renewables.
So here we are in 2017 and this March for the first time wind and solar accounted for ten percent of US electricity production.
In Iowa, 37 percent of the electricity comes from wind alone all year around.
There are now over 800,000 jobs in green energy in the US.
Solar jobs are growing 17 times faster than the general economy in the US.
After Trump reneged on the Paris Climate Accord, dozens of US cities have pledged to go 100% green in their energy consumption, with Santa Barbara being only the latest.
The Federal government isn’t the only player here, and anyway, large parts of it, such as the Pentagon, continue to favor renewables.
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So far this summer, our first with our 20 new solar panels, our electric bill went from an average of $200 to less than $50. In SE IN no less. I sell back more than I use. We are planning to add 10 more to our barn roof in the fall.
Also add a wind turbine (there are some really nice ones coming on the market this year) and keep a lookout for the Chinese versions of the Tesla “power wall.”
You could become totally energy self-sufficient.
BTW – also look to replace all your high energy usage stuff with newer low energy stuff and add insulation to living spaces.
In Australia coal supporting politicians are now calling for the Federal Government to build coal fired power stations because commercial investors won’t touch them.
So, the incentive here would be nothing more than jobs?
Economically, it would be far less expensive for the state to just pay laid off coal workers a “basic wage” for the rest of their lives than to waste the money on extremely expensive coal plants that will just get more expensive over time.
Australia, like all countries has an excess of workers, so rather than waste money on projects that make no economic sense, just to employ a small number of humans, just take part of the money that would be wasted and pay the ex-worker directly.
Juan,
Could you clarify if roof-top solar electrical generation is part of the 10% figure or is only utility scale solar included? My hunch is that it is not which means solar is even bigger than these numbers suggest.
Thanks.