Electrify Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

FOR THE FIRST time in history, the full financial weight of the United States federal government is aligned behind an epic transition to clean energy. A trio of energy, infrastructure, and science laws passed by the last Congress will deploy more than half a trillion dollars of public funding over the next decade to wean us off fossil fuels and make greener alternatives cheap and ubiquitous.
Uncle Sam will pick up a huge chunk of the tab for energy sources like wind and solar, and cleaner consumer choices like electric vehicles and heat pumps. Thanks to these new laws, which will also unlock hundreds of billions in private investment in clean energy, it'll simply be the smarter financial decision to choose clean over dirty in the countless decisions made by millions of households and businesses. With the thumb firmly on the clean side of the scale, the fight against climate change in America has fundamentally changed.
And yet the work is just getting started.
I'm a macro-energy systems engineering expert. I've spent the past four years at Princeton leading research teams that have carefully modeled pathways for America to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and analyzed the impacts of proposed and enacted federal climate and energy policy. According to our research, these three laws could roughly double our current pace of decarbonization, leading to an average 4 percent drop in emissions each year through 2030, reducing total emissions to roughly 40 percent of their peak, and to levels not seen since 1967.
Denne historien er fra May/June 2023-utgaven av Mother Jones.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May/June 2023-utgaven av Mother Jones.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på

Immigrants on the Line
They fled Haiti only to endure brutal working conditions at a Colorado plant run by the world's biggest meatpacker. Now they face deportation.

HOW TO DRIVE ELON MUSK DOWN
If you think mass protests can't combat evil, remember what we did in the 1980s.

GUARANTEED FAILURE
Cash transfer programs are gaining steam, but our current bureaucracy is obscuring their potential.

THE BRUTAL AESTHETICS OF MAGA
Proximity to power might rely on a specific look.

ONE OF AMERICA'S BIGGEST FOR-PROFIT HOSPITAL OPERATORS IS BANKRUPT, BROKEN. AND RESPONSIBLE FOR COUNTLESS MISTREATED PATIENTS— THANKS TO ITS PRIVATE EQUITY OVERLORDS.
She'd never been one to take the easy route, and besides, she wanted to get things moving-and walking seemed the best way to do it.

THE GREAT PRETENDER
A fake campaign loan could have ended Andy Ogles' push for MAGA fame. Then Trump won again.

RAIN CHECK
The economic case for preserving America’s wetlands

GET CAUGHT FIGHTING
MAXWELL FROST IS LEARNING THE ROPES OF CONGRESS AND SHOWING HIS OLDER COLLEAGUES HOW TO PUNCH BACK IN THE AGE OF TRUMP.

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER
Clearview Al's far-right founders always intended to target immigrants and the political left. Now their facial recognition dragnet is in the hands of the Trump administration.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER
How hybrid homeschools hoover up your state tax dollars