Joe Biden during the presidential campaign walks past an array of solar panels in Plymouth, New Hampshire.Brian Snyder / Reuters
The Joe Biden Administration announced on Wednesday an ambitious plan that aims to transform the electricity industry in the United States: to achieve that by 2050 45% of electricity comes from solar energy. Currently the figure is slightly above 3%, so it would have to double every year for the next four, and then double again by 2030. The goal set by the Department of Energy (DOE, for its acronym in English) is part of the Democratic government's agenda to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus combat climate change.
A new study from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, released this morning, reveals that solar power has the potential to supply up to 40% of America's electricity in 15 years, an increase of more than 10 times. on current solar production. The report warns that to achieve this, it is necessary to make a change in environmental policies and invest billions of dollars to modernize solar energy and the electricity grid.
"Achieving this bright future requires a massive and equitable deployment of renewable energy and strong decarbonization policies, exactly what is established in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. He pointed out that the projections contemplate employing 1.5 million people without increasing electricity prices.
President Joe Biden said this week on a visit to neighborhoods flooded by Hurricane Ida that climate change has become "everyone's crisis."
The president warned on Tuesday that the United States must take the danger posed by climate change seriously or face increasing loss of life and property.
Over 220 medical journals urge governments to act in the face of the climate crisis
The scientific community agrees that it is key that the US achieve neutrality of its emissions by 2050, that is, that only the gases that the sinks can capture can be expelled so that they do not accumulate in the atmosphere and overheat the planet. This will require a much greater use of renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines. In recent years the price of solar panels has dropped considerably in the United States, but China dominates the global supply chain.
This Wednesday's announcement joins a battery of initiatives that the Democratic Government intends to carry out to combat climate change, one of its main purposes.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in early August that sets a goal for half of the new cars sold in the US by 2030 to be electric or zero emissions - battery, fuel cell or plug-in hybrids.
The objectives announced by the president are not binding and that is why what happens in Congress is so relevant.
The infrastructure bill currently stalled in the House of Representatives includes a significant budget for environmental issues and other bills from Democrats contemplate more spending for electric cars, consumer tax incentives and research.
You can follow CLIMA Y MEDIO AMBIENTE on
and
, or sign up here to receive
our weekly newsletter
