Report highlights a decade of tremendous growth in wind and solar power
If you’ve noticed more solar panels, wind turbines and super-efficient LED lightbulbs in the past few years, you’re not alone.
According to the 2019 edition of “Renewables on the Rise,” a report by our national research partner Environment America Research & Policy Center, the country has witnessed a 40-fold increase in solar power and a threefold increase in wind power since 2009. The wind and the sun now provide enough electricity to power to power more than 35 million homes.
“Thanks to tremendous progress in the last decade, we now have 50 times times more clean, renewable power than we had at the beginning of the century,” said Susan Rakov, chair of Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Clean Energy program.
In that same period, energy storage increased 18-fold, and energy saved through utility energy efficiency programs doubled.
“We need to seize the moment,” said Rob Sargent, senior director of our national network’s 100% Renewable Energy campaign, “and lean into a future powered by clean renewable energy.”
Read our national press release.
Photo: The wind and the sun now provide enough electricity to power to power more than 35 million homes. Credit: mikeledray/Bigstock