Renewable energy in the United States

President Obama looked to the near future, saying that as a nation, the United States will "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.

[16] In his joint address to Congress in 2009, Obama stated that: "We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century....

[19] In 2018, EIA expected that, after rising by 2.7% in 2018, U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions would decrease by 2.5% in 2019 and by 1.0% in 2020[20] due to a shift away from coal and toward renewables and natural gas.

[30] Many of the new technologies that harness renewables—including wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels—are, or soon will be, economically competitive with the fossil fuels that meet 85% of United States energy needs.

[42] In August 2011, a coalition of 24 governors asked the Obama administration to provide a more favorable business climate for the development of wind power.

[50] These non-utility scale estimates that the United States, generated the following additional electric energy from such distributed solar PV systems.

[58][59][60] Solar thermal power plants designed for solar-only generation are well matched to summer noon peak loads in prosperous areas with significant cooling demands, such as the south-western United States.

[66] The Solana Generating Station is a 280 MW solar power plant which is near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Phoenix.

This Act made new geothermal plants eligible for the full federal production tax credit, previously available only to wind power projects.

[2] Biomass electric generation data combines two basic categories: Wave power in the United States is under development in several locations off the east and west coasts as well as Hawaii.

Assuming that 40 percent of existing homes in the United States have adequate access to sunlight, 29 million solar water heaters could be installed.

[72] The USDA in 2015 began offering grants to help gasoline retailers install blender pumps for dispensing mid-level ethanol blends.

[75] There are numerous organizations within the academic, federal, and commercial sectors conducting large-scale advanced research in the field of renewable energy.

In 2008, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a method to store solar energy by using it to produce hydrogen fuel from water.

[99][100] Accurate estimates regarding job creation as a result of an increasing reliance on renewable energy in the United States are challenging to predict due to unforeseen technological developments, uncertainty surrounding the United States’ future import/export levels of renewable energy technology, and ambiguity regarding indirect and induced employment effects.

[103] The model considered different assumptions for fossil fuel prices, domestic installations, international trade, and German exports to developing renewable energy world markets.

[103] According to a 2019 CBS News poll on 2,143 U.S. residents, 42% of American adults under 45 years old thought that the U.S. could realistically transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050 while 29% deemed it unrealistic and 29% were unsure.

Some jurisdictions go one step further and have instituted feed-in tariff, which allows any power customer to actually make money by producing more renewable energy than is consumed locally.

From 2006 to 2014, US households received more than $18 billion in federal income tax credits for weatherizing their homes, installing solar panels, buying hybrid and electric vehicles, and other "clean energy" investments.

[109] The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included more than $70 billion in direct spending and tax credits for clean energy and associated transportation programs.

[110] While the Department of Energy has come under criticism for providing loan guarantees to Solyndra,[111] its SunShot initiative has funded successful companies such as EnergySage[112] and Zep Solar.

][29] Renewable energy suffered a political setback in the United States in September 2011 with the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a company that had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee.

[126] The SunShot initiative included a crowdsourced innovation program run in partnership with Topcoder, during which 17 different solar energy application solutions were developed in 60 days.

WPA collaborates with state and regional stakeholders, including farmers, ranchers, Native Americans, rural electric cooperatives, consumer-owned utilities and schools.

The DOE Solar Energy Technology Program (SETP) intended to achieve the goals of the SAI through partnerships and strategic alliances by focusing primarily on four areas: As part of former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Million Solar Roofs Program, California set a goal to create 3,000 megawatts of new, solar-produced electricity by 2017, with funding of $2.8 billion.

Founded in 1984 by a group of Congressional Members, EESI seeks to be a catalyst that moves society away from environmentally damaging fossil fuels and toward a clean energy future.

R&D staff and facilities are recognized and valued by industry, as demonstrated through many collaborative research projects and licensed technologies with public and private partners.

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is an organization dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability, with a special focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency.

[138] Scholarships highlights the prevalence of institutional support in the EU and the UK for community based renewable energy, and not surprisingly, there are many more successful projects in Europe than there are in the United States.

[140] Existing literature shows a clear lack of institutional support for community-based renewable energy projects within the United States.

Map of major renewable energy resources in the contiguous United States.
A map of major renewable energy resources in the contiguous United States.
Growth in renewable-source electricity generation has been led by wind and solar. [ 21 ]
New installation of wind and solar capacity surged in 2020, but was then affected by sourcing problems for solar panels, supply chain constraints, interconnection issues, and policy uncertainty. [ 22 ] [ 23 ]
Renewable energy exceeded coal-based energy for the first time in 2022. [ 24 ]
Though Texas and California generate the most wind + solar power of all states, various other states generate more wind + solar power per capita . [ 25 ]
Over centuries, energy consumption has evolved from burning wood to fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), and in recent decades to using nuclear, hydroelectric and other renewable energy sources. [ 26 ]
Timeline of electricity from renewable sources in the United States
State Renewables % by Fuel Type
Fuel Source % for Electric Generation 2013-2022
Renewables Electric Energy Generation Profile
The Hoover Dam when completed in 1936 was both the world's largest electric-power generating station and the world's largest concrete structure.
The Shepherds Flat Wind Farm is an 845 megawatt (MW) wind farm in the state of Oregon .
In 2008, landowners typically received $3,000 to $5,000 per year in rental income from each wind turbine. Farmers continue to grow crops or graze cattle up to the foot of the turbines. [ 35 ]
Solar arrays at the 550 MW Desert Sunlight Solar Farm
Photovoltaic solar panels on a house roof
The 392 MW Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California: The facility's three towers.
Geothermal Generated Electric Energy Profile 2022-2021
10 Years of Geothermal Generation, 2013-2022
BioMass Electric Energy Generation 2022-2021
10 Years of Biomass Electric Energy Generation 2022-2013
10 Years of Biomass Electric Energy Generation
Information on pump, California
The Mid-continental Rift System
Acceptance of wind and solar facilities in one's community is stronger among Democrats (blue), while acceptance of nuclear power plants is stronger among Republicans (red). [ 106 ]
Growth of net metering in the United States
Selected state renewable portfolio standards with 2018 revisions. 29 states have adopted policies targeting a percentage of their energy to come from renewable sources.
Non-powered dams hydroelectric potential