Blake Wooldridge

One of the most relevant and recurring topics in society today as well as our class is climate change. The role climate change plays on our everyday lives is increasing due to noticeably increasing impacts. The effects of years and years and millions of tons of burnt fossil fuels has created large scale turmoil regarding the implications on decisions to keep abusing resources. Combating these changes has become a priority for several nations. Renewable resources have gained popularity amongst these nations. The search for more efficient ways of maximizing the capacity of power with minimizing impacts has resulted in an outbreak of solar power.

Solar power alone has attributed to more than a third of all new net power capacity added worldwide in 2017. Solar power has become much more affordable and therefore applicable within the past several years. Since 2009 the cost of electricity from large scale solar projects has dropped by 72%. Recently solar panels have been used on thatched roofs in Kenya allowing Indian farmers to pump groundwater for their fields. This allows agriculture to flourish and boosts economy. Other new sources such as wind, biomass, and geothermal power can also account for a substantial change of reliance on fossil fuels.

Cumulatively all renewable energy sources account for only 12% of electricity consumed worldwide. The majority of energy produced still comes from coal and fossil fuels that are continually refused to be recognized as detrimental to the health of our planet. “This shows where we are heading,” said Nils Stieglitz, a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, which produced the report along with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “The fact that renewables altogether are still far from providing the majority of electricity means that we still have a long way to go.” This long way to go is becoming longer and longer, and some world leaders have recognized the importance of combating this issue now.

One of the nations on the forefront of this solar revolution is China. China has significantly cut back on usage of coal at home as well as accounted for almost half of all renewable energy investments worldwide. In 2017 alone China pumped $86.5 billion into solar energy. The U.S. has also played a significant part in the development of solar power but has displayed an increasing lack of urgency regarding the protection of the environment. Even though the U.S has historically been the largest emitter of greenhouse gases the investment in renewables went down to $40.5 billion in 2017.

The priorities of U.S government can be exemplified through many of the recent administrative propositions such as the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency. Some of the cuts included in this 2019 budget proposal include a 15% cut to the Agriculture department along with a 25% cut to the Environmental Protection Agency as a whole. Under this cut many programs could be completely relinquished. This creates a significant problem for the growth of the renewables industry. The lack of governmental subsidies could prove to be the tipping point for projects backed by government price support.