GOOD NEWS

During extreme heat, air conditioning use and electricity demand spikes: so it’s very good news that renewables generated a full 30 percent of electricity worldwide last year, according to the Global Electricity Review 2024. When you add in nuclear power, the amount of electricity from carbon-free sources jumps to 40 percent globally. “A new era of falling fossil generation is imminent. 2023 was likely the pivot point,” the report’s executive summary says.

China led the way, accounting for 51 percent of new solar and 60 percent of new wind worldwide in 2023. Last year alone, China installed more solar energy than the U.S. has in its entire history. In Texas, where I live, solar also outpaced coal for the first time ever this March and it’s the economics of clean energy that are turning the tide.

As the Financial Times explains: “It’s not that politics don’t matter. But economics, which shape politics, can turn even the biggest climate change skeptic* into a clean energy evangelist.” And a new study agrees: researchers found the increase in wind and solar generation from 2019 to 2022 generated $250 billion in climate and air quality benefits in the U.S. alone. It just makes sense!