Trump can't stop renewable energy

He’s slowing it, for sure, and that’s tragic, bordering on criminal, in my book. But the switch to clean, renewable energy is unstoppable now. As this Guardian article notes, for the first time, the US generated more power from renewables than gas last month.

A two-dimensional graph showing the share of electricity generation in the US by two sources: gas and renewables over the past 10 years. The lines vary seasonally, with gas higher historically but with the renewables line climbing to finally meet and exceed the gas line on the last data point — Static image of a nice interactive graph that you should click through to see on The Guardian article. I couldn't resist showing that first crossover point where the purple renewables line exceeds the gas line. Go on, graph!

The fight isn’t won yet, of course. Renewables are inevitable eventually, but time is of the essence. Making the switch away from fossil fuels cannot happen quickly enough. The corrupt obstruction of this administration needs to be overcome, and the transition needs to accelerate. But this is still damned good news.

The clean energy industry still has to contend with an uncertain, volatile political environment as well as logjams that delay projects from being connected to a grid that still struggles to move clean power around the country. But fears of Trump-inspired destruction have somewhat receded.

“I’m not nearly as pessimistic as I was last summer,” said Jon Powers, co-founder of CleanCapital, a solar and battery storage company. “The administration way overplayed their hand on this. They are not where the American people are and they’re having to come back to where we are.”