We've Been Here Before. It's Going to be Okay. Clean Energy is Playing the Long Game

by Elisa Wood, Energy Changemakers

I haven’t been able to get the refrain out of my mind from the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young song, Déjà Vu: “We have all been here before, we have all been here before.”

Since the US Presidential election results were tallied last week, there has been a lot of talk about the potential damage to the clean energy industry.

But this isn’t the first time clean energy has faced White House hostility. In the decades since former President Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House roof (later removed by former President Ronald Reagan), presidential enthusiasm has been on-again-off-again like a light bulb with a short. It showed bright during the Obama years and even more so under the Biden administration. Still, the most consistent thing about presidential zeal for clean energy over the last four decades has been inconsistency.

Meanwhile, the clean energy industry has played the long game, building a trillion-dollar-plus world market, expected to reach nearly $2.5 trillion by 2032. With a lot of smart money behind it, it’s a big ship that can be slowed but not easily turned around and certainly not sunk. Consider that last year, half of the new capacity in the US came from solar.

For those in distributed energy, the fate of the Inflation Reduction Act is a big worry. We’ll see what happens. But tax credit advisor Crux said in a brief last week that wholesale repeal is unlikely; instead expect surgical revisions. Crux also noted that tax credits for wind and solar have been used for decades and extended “by every partisan configuration of the House, Senate, and Presidency.” Credits were extended and expanded during Trump’s first term.

And Tesla CEO Elon Musk has Trump’s ear now. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I do know Musk likes electric vehicles and solar.

Perhaps most importantly, electric policy — which forms markets — is largely a state play in the United States. That’s where distributed energy’s biggest battles and innovations tend to happen. And distributed energy is starting to become a community play. Witness the heartening vote in Ann Arbor, Michigan this week, with 80% of the electorate approving a community-led utility that delivers distributed energy technologies to homes and businesses. Certainly consequential to Ann Arbor, the vote could have broader influence if it spurs other communities to do the same.

The bottom line? Keep going.

If you need more inspiration, listen to this week’s podcast interview with Mischa Steiner of Awesense for a lesson in the value of perseverance. At one point, the company was on the brink. Steiner was recovering from a serious car accident, his small business was named in a lawsuit (actually targeting a larger partner), he was losing an investment deal because of the litigation, and at the same time, he was undergoing an audit. That was several years ago. Today, the 15-year-old company finds itself at the right place at the right time with a product ripe for our data-rich era.

And if you're still not feeling it, read Peter Asmus' guest article, How My Hometown Offers Important Lessons for Those Seeking Links between Data Centers and Nuclear Power. It's about how a waitress overhearing a conversation led to a grassroots effort that preserved Bodega Bay, California — a majestic place I was lucky to visit this summer when Asmus gave me a tour and history lesson about the beginnings of grassroots environmental activism in America.

As always, thank you for reading and listening! Please subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. Your support means a lot! Elisa Wood