Despite the political attitudes in the US towards climate change, there is still hope that the country is committed to pursuing clean, sustainable energy--at least on a state by state level. There has already been some notable progress. In contrast to the start of the decade, by 2017 the percentage of the nation’s electricity coming from renewable energy (such as hydropower, wind, solar, and geothermal) had nearly doubled to 16%. And growth in these industries in leading clean energy states doesn’t seem to be slowing. Granted, the US must significantly improve its reliance on renewable energy by 2050 in order to not exceed the 2 degree increase maximum threshold set by the Paris Agreement. In light of the current climatic extremes in the US, it is thus important to break down these gains by industry in order to evaluate the country’s potential to do so.
Wind
Wind power over the course of several years has become the main source of renewable energy in the U.S., officially taking the number one spot by the end of 2016. The growth in wind energy is so high that in 2017 alone the U.S. added another 6,250 MW of capacity, which is enough to power 2 million homes. Those living in big cities would be rightfully surprised by this growth because of their lack of wind turbines, but their absence of space for the required machinery can easily explain the confusion. This leads to explain why the midwest and other less populated cities and towns have been taking advantage of this cheap source of energy. The midwest states Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, are the top 3 states in the country with the highest percentage of electricity being generated from wind power, and their percentage use is only increasing with time. While states like Texas and California, hold spots 1 and 4, respectively, for the most wind power generated per state, their percentage generation is still much lower than midwest states. While improvements are being made across the country there are still 9 states, as of the time of this article, that have not implemented wind turbines. That said there is still time to improve overall generation over these next few decades.
Solar
While solar energy hit an all time high in 2016 for the US, its growth has remained mostly stagnant for the years after. This decrease in growth is mainly to do political factors that have created a barrier between accessibility and the average consumer. Following, the industry saw a 9,800 job drop in 2016. Despite this, a few states such as Minnesota are seeing improvements in the industry. Minnesota reached an all time low in cost of production for solar energy in 2017. These few improvements give way to evidence that supports that solar energy is still a significant resource in today’s climate, both political and otherwise.
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