Why you haven’t been hearing from me lately
My dear blog readers, I’m sorry I’ve been communicating so infrequently in recent months. I think I owe you an explanation.
It’s not that there is no climate news to share — haha, wouldn’t that be a nice change? It’s not because of any big drama in my life or at Power Up for Climate Solutions. I think a biggest reason I’ve been struggling to compose communications is the dramatic explosion in the quality and quantity of climate communicators, analysts, and activists in the 5 years since we founded Power Up for Climate Solutions. I find myself awed by many of the climate resources being produced today; I also feel uncertain about what I can add that’s unique and valuable.
This is a really great problem to have. Since 2018, we’ve seen a dramatic, heart-warming blossoming of the climate movement. Individuals and organizations have emerged, and they are doing great work and producing great content. New voices, organizations, podcasts, newsletters, and resources of all kinds are available, and established organizations like Natural Resources Defense Council and Union of Concerned Scientists are producing top notch climate analysis and actions as well. I’m incredibly happy about this, yet I find myself questioning what to post on this blog. So I thought I’d start something new: simply connecting you to my favorite people, resources and organizations.
I’ll start by recommending two:
“Talking Climate” is a weekly newsletter from climate scientist and communicator Dr. Kathrine Hayhoe. It began about 10 months ago, and all issues are accessible on LinkedIn; what I love about it is that each issue includes good news, bad news, and ideas for something you can do. It’s short enough to read in just a few minutes, and of course it’s free. You can find it and subscribe to it on LinkedIn.
Rewiring America is an organization founded to help America electrify everything. They have an extraordinary array of resources to help you learn about electrification and its crucial role in decarbonizing. They also have tons of tools to help you electrify your home and car, and reports on all aspects of electrification. Start by going to their Electrification Planner or use their IRA savings calculator to learn how much money you can get with the Inflation Reduction Act incentives. Or just go to their website and look around–it’s pretty impressive!
I hope you enjoy checking these out. Taking a little time each week or each month to learn about climate solutions is a great way to begin taking action. And if you have any favorite climate communicators or climate resources, please write back and tell me about them!
It’s go time for electric vehicles
We humans are terrible at seeing what’s coming, even when the signals are visible. So I’m here to give you some straight talk about electric vehicles (EVs): the transition to electric transportation is underway, and it’s time to jump on! Yes, there is some chaos and misinformation clouding the big picture on this. But for nearly everyone driving a gas car, choosing an EV for your next car purchase is within reach and will save you money and make you happier. And as a bonus, EVs will help us get off fossil fuels, reduce air pollution, and fight climate change.
I realize you may need some convincing. Just last week, I saw at least three false or misleading news stories suggesting that EVs are dangerous, bad for the climate, or doomed. Yet consider this: according to the International Energy Agency, 14% of new cars sold worldwide in 2022 were electric and sales are growing exponentially. Each year EVs have been getting better and cheaper, with more models, longer ranges, and a greater variety of options. The cost of fueling and maintaining an EV is much lower than for a gas car, and EVs are better for the climate than gas cars in every US state, even those without much clean electricity in their grids. One of the biggest underappreciated reasons to go electric is that from this day on, as EVs take over, fueling, maintaining, buying and selling EVs will get easier, and gas cars will become a burden, and may loose their value.
Here are four key things to know when considering your next car purchase:
EV sales are rising quickly and are reaching a tipping point in the U.S. In 2022, 5.7% of US car sales were fully electric, a 65% increase from 2021. By the 3rd quarter of 2023, 7.9% of new cars sold in the U.S. were EVs. These trends, along with the generous EV tax incentives enacted in 2022 in the Inflation Reduction Act, indicate the beginning of exponential growth of EV sales: If these trends continue, EVs will dominate new car sales in the U.S. by 2030, just seven years away.
As EVs become more abundant on our roads, prices and choices will improve, infrastructure to drive, fuel, maintain, repair, and re-sell them will become more accessible, and the opposite trends will occur for gas cars. Recognizing this now can save you from choosing a car that will become obsolete.
The benefits of going electric are underestimated. Every person I know who has gotten an EV in the last few years is extremely happy, and would not go back to gas. EVs are quiet, fast, powerful, cheaper to run, fun to drive, and better for the climate. Getting used to charging and learning your battery range are adjustments, but you are probably overestimating these issues, and underestimating how great it is to be freed from buying gas and paying for maintenance and repairs for an internal combustion engine. (I suggest choosing an EV that has a range of 250 miles or more.) According to an analysis by Consumer Reports, EV owners spend–on average–approximately 60% less on fuel than gas car owners, and half as much on maintenance and repairs.
Fears about battery life, reliability, and climate benefits have been stoked by fossil fuel interests who have spread disinformation to try to prevent the rapid transition to EVs. Very few–if any–of these alarming headlines stand up to careful scrutiny.
What to know about the cost of buying an EV: With EV prices falling and options expanding, a new, used, or leased EV is now within reach for many—possibly most– families. There is, however, a bit of chaos in the U.S. EV market right now, precipitated by the EV incentives passed as part of the the Inflation Reduction Act.
The law provides generous tax credits for buying EVs (both new and used). To qualify for credits, new EVs must meet domestic battery sourcing requirements. (These incentives are also income restricted, so are not available to the wealthiest Americans.) As a result, buyers and manufacturers have been scrambling to meet the requirements, and the IRS and Treasury Department have been scrambling to determine which EVs qualify. In addition, some states have additional incentives, so depending on where you live, your income level, and the EV you choose, your purchase price could lowered by up to $10,000.
There are several ways to determine which EVs qualify for these tax credits. One option is to go to the US Department of Energy’s website with the updated list of new and used EVs that qualify, as well as information about how to claim the credits. A second really great resource is Electric For All, where you can enter your location and discover all the EVs available and which tax credits (including state credits) are accessible to you. There are also credits up to $4000 to buy used EVs, and $7500 tax credits available to leasing companies to lower the cost of leasing an EV.
Leading EV makers, including Chevy, Hyundai, VW, Tesla, Ford, Nissan, and Volvo, are furiously working to build domestic supply chains for their batteries so buyers can get the tax incentives. The Department of Energy website and Electric For All are updated frequently and more and more models should be added over coming months.
Doing well by doing good: EVs really are a win-win. Today’s leading EVs are quiet, fast, powerful, much cheaper to run and maintain, super fun to drive, and protect owners from gas price shocks.
At the same time, they are a critical climate solution. The transportation sector is the largest source of CO2 emissions in the U.S., responsible for 2/5ths of domestic fossil fuel emissions. EVs have lower emissions than gas cars in every state, and as the percentage of clean electricity grows the climate advantage of driving electric will only increase. If you currently drive a gas powered car, one of the most effective personal climate actions you can take is commit to switching to an EV the next time you need to buy a car. You’re gonna love it!
P.S. I realize this is a long post, but even so, I left out some important information so as not to make it even longer! Below links to three things I didn’t talk about:
- Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)
- The coming advantage of using your EV as a back-up power source during power outages.
- The large public and private investments in charging stations that will transform the US car travel landscape in the coming years.
Most fossil fuel energy is wasted–New analysis shows how to fix this!
With catastrophic fires again raging in California and hurricane Laura devastating the Gulf Coast, the urgency of the climate crisis is painfully clear. You may wonder if it’s too late to do anything meaningful to avert climate chaos. A recent analysis finds we can still eliminate 70-80% of US carbon emissions by 2035 with existing technologies and tools, getting this country on a 1.5° C pathway while creating millions of jobs and lowering energy costs. And this isn’t some fly-by-night study: it was done by MacArthur Genius grant recipient Saul Griffith and colleagues, after analyzing all the available data on how energy is used in the US.
This report, published by “Rewiring America,” shows how the US can quickly and fully decarbonize our economy with proven technologies and existing resources. David Roberts, writing about the report in Vox, describes it’s findings as “oddly optimistic.” Here are the major bombshells, as summarized by Roberts:
“In a nutshell, (the analysis shows) that it’s possible to eliminate 70 percent to 80 percent of US carbon emissions by 2035 through rapid deployment of existing electrification technologies, with little-to-no carbon capture and sequestration. Doing so would slash US energy demand by about half, save consumers money, and keep the country on a 1.5° pathway without requiring particular behavior changes. Everyone could still have their same cars and houses–they would just need to be electric.”
How is this possible? First, burning fossil fuels for energy is incredibly wasteful. Electric motors are much more efficient at converting energy into useful work. So much more efficient, in fact, that electrifying everything would cut US energy demand in half, according to Rewiring America’s report. Second, our clean energy technologies have advanced to the point where we can use them to get most of the way to full decarbonization. The five key existing and well-proven technologies we need, according to Griffith’s work, are wind and solar power plants, rooftop solar, electric vehicles, heat pumps, and batteries.
Of course, in order to get on this 1.5° C pathway, we have to commit, and mobilize on a scale we haven’t done since World War II. Such a mobilization would ramp up clean energy and electrification as fast as possible. Within 3 to 5 years, we need to increase our electricity grid three to four fold, our EV production four fold, our wind turbines 12 fold, and our solar modules 12 fold. Then, after this initial period of mobilization, every time a diesel or gas car gets replaced, it has to be with an EV. Every time an oil or gas furnace goes out, it is replaced with a heat pump, and so on. Talk about a green recovery jobs program!
Two other gems I want to mention from this report: First, the benefits of following this plan are extraordinary even without the potential to protect a climate compatible with human societies thriving. Clean air, good jobs, cheaper energy, quieter roads and cities, and on and on. Second, this analysis doesn’t rely on, or even consider, the carbon emissions that are possible with traditional efficiency measures such as insulating buildings, double-glazing windows, driving less, or downsizing homes. Adding any of these would only increase our chances of decarbonizing in time to do our part to get on a 1.5° C pathway and protect a livable climate.
If you want to dig deeper into this, Saul Griffith has updated and expanded his findings and published Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for our Clean Energy Future. What this compelling work shows is that it’s still within our capabilities to tackle the climate crisis while creating a green jobs boom and a safer healthier future. If you needed any more motivation to help elect climate champions this November, maybe this will be it.