Bill McKibben’s recent piece tells us how, over the past two years, solar power has surged from the fringes to the forefront of global energy, transforming our thinking about electricity generation. No longer a niche “alternative,” it’s now the fastest-growing and most cost-effective power source on Earth. Imagine this: the world is now adding solar capacity every 15 hours—the equivalent of building a new coal-fired power plant each time. Battery storage is crucial for smoothing out
cloudy or windless periods, has rocketed, enabling renewables to fuel entire grids, even overnight.
Consider some astonishing milestones:
1. California once ran on 82% renewable energy in a single day,
2. Poland, historically dependent on coal, has already tripled its solar capacity goal for 2030.
3. China installed an eye-popping 93 GW of solar in just May—about one gigawatt every eight hours—and continues to dominate both manufacturing and deployment.
Even nations long tied to fossil fuels—from Texas to the Middle East—are racing into solar and storage, driven by affordability and resilience. Utility-scale solar and wind are now often the cheapest options for new electricity generation globally. This story, featured on RSN, shows that this isn’t just an energy trend—it’s a paradigm shift.
With renewable energy and storage capacity growing exponentially, we’re looking at a future where:
1. Fossil fuels risk becoming relics of the past,
2. Energy independence becomes accessible to all,
3. And our planet—and our global economy—might find a new foundation.
Read the full article here:
RSN – “4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment”
https://www.rsn.org/001/the-sun-is-having-a-moment.html
