The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think

[Zorro]

The United States is pivoting away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar and other renewable energy, even in areas dominated by the oil and gas industries.

Delivery vans in Pittsburgh. Buses in Milwaukee. Cranes loading freight at the Port of Los Angeles. Every municipal building in Houston. All are powered by electricity derived from the sun, wind or other sources of clean energy.

Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.

A similar energy transition is already well underway in Europe and elsewhere. But the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.

Wind and solar power are breaking records, and renewables are now expected to overtake coal by 2025 as the world’s largest source of electricity. Automakers have made electric vehicles central to their business strategies and are openly talking about an expiration date on the internal combustion engine. Heating, cooling, cooking and some manufacturing are going electric.

As the planet registers the highest temperatures on record, rising in some places to levels incompatible with human life, governments around the world are pouring trillions of dollars into clean energy to cut the carbon pollution that is broiling the planet.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/12/climate/clean-energy-us-fossil-fuels.html?unlocked_article_code=qeqVvpvYhAR3QQYZmvPsMKbf449BVR1YglvjptnhqCHsIxVc49sfjD_xzLQzWUiovX2amOu71RXY2bwu6KKvO0S8CwVYNKr2dR8q5R2fqw7DMdnOf6UnWDEdEyd3BUjjnYrdthIEfQ74124-7zxWROwz2AnBshinj_zY5IjTfMbiEkRbjKJhD-BFTOOF2pF1salLrJv5YrDeZS_znoKjYvBiyLmo-zpX5IGfiWYSZdnxzzTZYAkSsK3bj-ow5sD58y947eSB235adw9yHWq2Af--AubGM-0Rdof9CEJubwKPczGZHAF5e8hFtC-omNtiv6p2dDBqAQU1VhuZO-ASsPkLWVOya_nm4q_A6ZoxxU-9FtxS3ZM&smid=url-share

[Aristus]

1. Finally, some good news.

Seemingly every other news-barker out there is screaming "IT'S TOO LATE, EVERYBODY! TIME TO PACK UP! THIS PLANET IS FINISHED! AND SO ARE WE!"

[vanlassie]

2. "There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow..."

[BlueIn_W_Pa]

3. Just a note living in Pittsburgh

the first sentence is BS

It's nuclear, nat gas, and coal. Renewable isn't even on the map.

...and PA exports more electricity as a net exporter to the surrounding power grid using those same three sources...

So EVs are still largely powered by coal and oil