David Roberts of Grist recently shared a couple of interesting graphics (in particular, when compared) from Black & Veatch. Here are Roberts’ succinct notes on renewable energy projects visible on the first map (below), which is of renewable energy projects in the U.S. up to 1970: “One, there weren’t very many! Two, they weren’t very big. And three, they were all biomass. In other words, in 1970, renewable energy in the U.S. was effectively nonexistent.”
And some of Roberts’ apt comments on the next, much different graphic: “The point the B&V analyst takes from that is that Solyndra is a sideshow. It’s not going to stop the march of renewables in the U.S. And that’s undoubtedly true. The point I take, of course, is that this growth is impressive but not nearly fast enough. In 10 years, I want the gray U.S. map to be invisible beneath a blanket of multi-colored dots. Get on it, people!”
Click to Enlarge
I don’t think there’s much to add — renewable energy growth has been tremendous in the U.S. in the past few decades, but it needs to be MUCH MORE tremendous in the coming decades. (Have you gone renewable yet? Have you pushed your Congressman to support renewable energy yet?)
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era — Podcast:
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
