Like most Americans, we were disappointed when President Trump announced his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to address climate change. The increasing threat of man-made climate change is a global concern, and the Paris Agreement represents one of the best international efforts yet to deal with this challenge. But in the end, we believe the decision will end up being no more than a speed bump on the clean energy superhighway.
The renewables and clean energy sector—led by solar, wind, energy efficiency, and now energy storage—has become one of our country’s (and the world’s) fastest-growing economic engines, currently employing hundreds of thousands of workers. Analysts say that we’ve reached grid parity for rooftop solar in more than half the states in the U.S., and most of the utility solar projects in the pipeline have costs around those of new natural-gas plants. As Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower, told Greentech Media, “markets are more driven by economics, and the economics of solar are clear.”
While sometimes it seems that clean energy and climate action have become partisan issues in the rough and tumble of American politics, our experience at Inovateus has shown that there are avid supporters of solar power and energy independence across the business, political and public sector spectrum. We have worked with Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, large utilities and rural electric cooperatives, government agencies and major universities, Republicans, Democrats and independents—all of which recognize solar’s sound economics and share a commitment to making solar a major piece of our power generation mix.
We have two great examples of outspoken local politicians working on climate action and embracing the benefits of the clean energy economy in Indiana. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a military veteran, businessman, musician and progressive Democrat, has signed on to the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda, a group committed “to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to supporting efforts for binding federal and global-level policymaking.” Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel, Indiana, is a conservative Republican and co-chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ climate change and energy independence task force.
Buttigieg (pronounced “BOOT-edge-edge”) wasted little time responding to the administration’s decision to exit the Paris Agreement. “Since President Trump has decided that America will no longer lead on this issue, South Bend will join cities and states around the country to continue addressing climate change, even if it means leaving Washington behind,” he said in a statement. “South Bend has already pursued sustainable practices such as investment in energy efficient buildings, renewable energy, LED lighting, alternative fuels for our vehicle fleet, and keeping yard waste out of landfills…. Cities can lead on climate change, and South Bend will be among them.”
Brainard, like many business and political leaders, had strongly advised President Trump to keep the U.S. in the Paris accord. He too is disappointed in the president’s decision, but he also believes that there is much in the way of carbon reduction, renewable energy and energy efficiency that can be accomplished at the local level. In a recent interview with NPR, Brainard talked about what he’s been doing in Carmel.
“We’re taking a city that was designed for cars, and turning it into a walkable city so that the average driver is in his car maybe a few minutes a day as opposed to U.S. average of two hours or a hundred miles,” he said. “We’ve switched out almost all of our street lights to LEDs, getting a great [22% annual] return on investment [in lower electricity costs]. We’ve created over a thousand acres of parkland. We have a street tree program. I did an executive order almost 12 years ago requiring all of our fleet vehicles to be hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles. We’re experimenting with hydrogen trucks for our street department…. We’re doing a lot of things in our city.”
Another thing the city of Carmel will be doing soon is adding a megawatt-scale solar array, so stay tuned for more information on how Inovateus will be involved with that project.
As I wrote in my book Building A Brilliant Tomorrow, the future for solar in the Midwest and beyond is bright and moving toward the next great breakthrough—“the combination of solar energy and storage, which will allow businesses and individuals to be independent, generating their own electricity and storing the electricity they generate on their own. That’s where the revolution moves forward a couple notches—and things are really going to get interesting.”
Regardless of the current administration’s policies, we remain passionately optimistic about clean energy. The solar (and storage) train has left the station, and we intend to be onboard for many years to come.
By T.J. Kanczuzewski, president and CEO, Inovateus Solar
