Renewables On The Rise Dashboard
America produces more than three times as much power from the sun, the wind and the earth as we did in 2014, with growth in all 50 states. Key technologies such as electric vehicles and battery storage are also booming - helping to repower America with clean energy.
The Renewables on the Rise dashboard allows you to track the growth of clean energy in your state and around the country. Explore your state’s clean energy progress, then read below for more information on the rise in renewables … and what local and state governments can do to help accelerate the transition to clean energy.
How much did America’s renewable energy and clean energy technologies grow in the last 10 years? Find out more below.
Wind power
America produced enough wind energy to power nearly 39 million typical homes in 2023 – 2.3 times as much wind energy as in 2014.
Solar power
America produced enough solar energy to power 22 million homes in 2023 – more than eight times as much solar energy as in 2014.
Battery storage
America had 15.5 gigawatts of battery energy storage at the end of 2023, 97 times as much as in 2014 and 72 percent more than at the end of 2022, helping to support the use of more renewable energy and keep the lights on during extreme weather and times of grid stress.
Energy efficiency
Energy efficiency improvements installed in 2022 will save 274 terawatt-hours of power over their lifetimes – enough to power 25 million homes for a year. Energy efficiency savings increased by about 9% between 2013 and 2022, the last year for which information is available.
Electric vehicles
There were nearly 3.3 million electric vehicles on American roads at the end of 2023 – a 25-fold increase from 2014. Meanwhile, the number of electric vehicle charging ports nationwide exceeded 176,000 – a nearly seven-fold increase from 2014 and a 22% increase from the year before.
At the federal level, the Inflation Reduction Act is helping to further incentivize adoption of clean energy. Here’s how:
- Federal tax credits for renewables. The Inflation Reduction Act continues federal tax credits for wind and solar energy that have helped fuel the growth of renewable energy nationwide.
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State and federal governments are accelerating the transition to clean energy. Thirteen states, accounting for 26% of 2023 U.S. electricity consumption, have committed to obtaining 100% of their electricity from clean sources over the next several decades.
- Tax incentives for electric vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act provides tax incentives to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles by individuals and businesses.
Visit Environment America’s Clean Energy Home Toolkit to learn more about how tax credits and rebates from the Inflation Reduction Act can help you make your home more energy efficient and switch to clean energy.
The past decade has seen exciting progress in clean energy. With continued progress and commitment, an America powered entirely by clean, renewable energy is within reach.
Making the renewable future a reality: Recommendations for state and local governments
- Set goals and make plans: Set bold goals and adopt concrete plans to transition to 100% renewable electricity, phase out dirty fossil fuel-powered cars, trucks and trains, and transition off fossil fuels in our homes and businesses.
- Use federal resources: Ensure that the clean energy incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act are fully and well implemented.
- Insist on supportive policy: Ensure that utility policies fully and fairly compensate investors in clean energy technology for the benefits they bring to society through mechanisms such as net metering for rooftop solar systems, and adopt policies for permitting and interconnection that make adoption of clean energy technologies easy and hassle-free.
- Cut energy waste: Encourage continued steady progress on energy efficiency by continuing and expanding efficiency programs and policies, including utility energy efficiency programs, building energy codes, and appliance efficiency standards.
Governor: Go big on clean energy
Now is the time for governors to go big on clean energy.
Data sources
- Utility-scale generation of electricity, utility-scale generation of wind and geothermal energy, and estimated combined utility- and small-scale solar energy generation: U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) form EIA-923 via the EIA’s Open Data API, viewable at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/browser/electricity/electric-power-operational-data.
- Total retail sales of electricity: EIA’s forms EIA-826, EIA-861 and EIA-861M via the Open Data API, viewable at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/browser/electricity/retail-sales.
- Electric vehicle registrations: Battery-electric vehicle registrations by state for 2016-on were obtained from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, accessible at https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicle-registration. Registrations for 2014 were obtained by multiplying the battery-electric vehicle share of all plug-in vehicle registrations by the number of plug-in vehicle registrations by state from Stacy C. Davis, et al., Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vehicle Technologies Fact of the Week 2015, pp. 69-74, May 2016, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240820212426/https://tedb.ornl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Fact_of_the_Week_2015.pdf. Data for 2015 were unavailable.
- Electric vehicle charging ports: Based on historical counts from U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuel Data Center, Alternative Fueling Station Counts by State, accessed at https://afdc.energy.gov/stations/states.
- Energy savings from energy efficiency programs: Based on all-sector, expected lifetime annual energy savings for 2022 from EIA’s form EIA-861 via the Open Data API, viewable at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/browser/electricity/state-electricity-profiles/energy-efficiency. These savings represent the expected savings from efficiency measures installed during 2022, and do not include savings from projects installed in previous years. The figures presented here represent savings at customer meters, not savings during generation, transmission or distribution of electricity: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861 Annual Electric Power Industry Report Instructions, p. 14, accessed July 31, 2023 at https://www.eia.gov/survey/form/eia_861/proposed/2023/instructions.pdf.
- Battery capacity: Based on nameplate capacity of operable generators using battery technology from December of the years analyzed, compiled from EIA’s forms EIA-860 and EIA-860M via the Open Data API, viewable at https://www.eia.gov/opendata/browser/electricity/operating-generator-capacity.
Methodology
- Data last updated August 20, 2024.
- Rankings for growth are based on total increase, not percentage or per-capita change.
- Comparisons to the number of households that could be powered by a certain amount of electricity generated or saved are based on EIA’s average annual household electricity use for the United States in 2022 of 10.791 MWh, obtained from https://web.archive.org/web/20240820212946/https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3.
- Calculations of solar, wind and geothermal generation as a percentage of total generation are based on the sum of utility-scale and small-scale solar as reported by U.S. EIA.
Topics
Authors
Johanna Neumann
Senior Director, Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy, Environment America Research & Policy Center
Johanna directs strategy and staff for Environment America's energy campaigns at the local, state and national level. In her prior positions, she led the campaign to ban smoking in all Maryland workplaces, helped stop the construction of a new nuclear reactor on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and helped build the support necessary to pass the EmPOWER Maryland Act, which set a goal of reducing the state’s per capita electricity use by 15 percent. She also currently serves on the board of Community Action Works. Johanna lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with her family, where she enjoys growing dahlias, biking and the occasional game of goaltimate.
Tony Dutzik
Associate Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Frontier Group
Tony Dutzik is associate director and senior policy analyst with Frontier Group. His research and ideas on climate, energy and transportation policy have helped shape public policy debates across the U.S., and have earned coverage in media outlets from the New York Times to National Public Radio. A former journalist, Tony lives and works in Boston.
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