Biden wants the sun to provide nearly half the nation’s electricity by 2050
The move, which would transform the nation's energy industry and infrastructure, shows how the president is determined to reshape the economy and cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
The Biden administration announced a blueprint Wednesday outlining how solar energy could produce nearly half of the nation’s electricity by mid-century, part of its ambitious bid to address climate change.
The new Energy Department analysis shows how the United States can scale up production of solar panels, which now provide 3% of the nation's electricity, to 45% over the next three decades.
The move, which would transform the nation's energy industry and infrastructure, shows how President Joe Biden is determined to reshape the economy and cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in the face of staunch political opposition.
While the administration has not set a specific solar energy target, the president has called for 100% of the nation's electricity to come from clean energy by 2035.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement that the nation could achieve such a rapid shift, noting that the study projects that solar energy could provide 40% of the nation's electricity by 2035 and employ as many as 1.5 million people without boosting electricity prices.
That analysis, however, assumes that Congress would fund several of the clean energy investments and policies that Biden has proposed but which have yet to be enacted.
“Achieving this bright future requires a massive and equitable deployment of renewable energy and strong decarbonization polices — exactly what is laid out in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda,” Granholm said.
Biden emphasized the need the achieve his goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 after touring damage wrought by Hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday.
"We're going to be able to do these things, but we've got to move," he said. "We've got to move."
“And so, folks, this summer alone, communities with over 100 million Americans … have been struck by extreme weather,” he added. “One in every three Americans has been victimized by severe weather — the hurricanes along the Gulf, the East Coast, up through this community. And I saw the human and physical costs firsthand, as I said, in Louisiana.”