Since he was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021, Joe Biden has made addressing climate change a key point of emphasis. He has overturned 42 environmental policies signed into law by President Donald Trump and added 24 of his own in areas such as drilling and extraction, air pollution and greenhouse gases, and accountability.
Before he was elected president, Biden announced a $2 trillion plan for the United States to achieve net zero carbon emissions and generate all of its energy from renewable sources by 2035. More recently, he targeted potential improvements in solar energy.
Solar Panels to Account for 45 Percent of Total Energy Generation
Released in September 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy's Solar Futures Study provides a trajectory for the country to source 45 percent of its electricity from solar panels in the next 30 years.
At present, solar panels account for 3 percent of electricity generation in the United States. The study suggests the 45 percent target could be achieved without increasing electricity prices. Moreover, it would add 1.5 million jobs to the renewable energy workforce.
The U.S. Department of Energy analysis, however, assumes many of the environmental policies President Biden proposed will be accepted and funded by Congress. As of September 9, he still had 22 proposed policies that had yet to be approved and was targeting to overturn an additional 72 Trump administration environmental policies.
Technology Advances and Cost Reduction
The Solar Futures study also assumes costs for photovoltaic (PV) systems will continue to decline and that technology will improve steadily. Upfront costs for large utility-scale PV systems have decreased more than 80 percent since 2010 due in part to improved efficiency and lower module cost, the latter of which declined as a result of technology improvements. The study anticipates costs falling further by as much as 50 percent from their 2020 values.
Extreme Weather Expediting Plans
Increasing solar output and, more specifically, achieving net-zero carbon emissions is even more critical considering the extreme weather events that have occurred this past summer. There have been heatwaves nationwide and wildfires have ravaged California and other parts of the Western United States. Biden emphasized these green energy targets after seeing the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey.
"And so, folks, this summer alone, communities with over 100 million Americans ... have been struck by extreme weather," he noted, as quoted in the Washington Post. "One in every three Americans has been victimized by severe weather — the hurricanes along the Gulf, the East Coast, up through this community."