Last week we covered what Biden’s administration has planned for renewable energy and how it pertains to solar. This week, We look at what to expect with his plan that will surely meet opposition in Congress. This $2.2 trillion bill hasn’t been introduced to the House yet, but Biden has been busy combating climate change anyway. On January 27, 2021, Biden passed sweeping executive orders to address climate change, or in his words the, “climate crisis.” With each new day, we see an incredible transformation from fossil fuels to renewable energy in making our world more sustainable. Technology is improving, people are investing, and installations are happening.
The President’s Executive Orders
The latest move by Biden in his effort to reduce emissions comes in the form of executive orders. Oliver Milman of The Guardian wrote, “The directive opens up a path to the banning of all new drilling on federal land, a campaign promise made by Biden … and the White House has said the new executive orders would help push the US towards a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.” Climate change advocates and solar enthusiasts are delighted at the news; the fossil fuel industry is not. Biden expects these actions to spur investment and job opportunities. Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport of the New York Times wrote, “the president cast many of the executive orders as opportunities for job creation, among other things pledging to use the purchasing power of the federal government to buy a vast fleet of zero-emission vehicles.” “This will mean one million new jobs in the American automobile industry,” Biden said.
What to Expect
“Wednesday’s executive orders also set broad new foreign policy goals, including specifying that climate change, for the first time, will be a core part of all foreign policy and national security decisions,” according to Friedman and Davenport with the New York Times. Biden has previously pledged to rejoin the Paris agreement. Additionally, Friedman and Davenport shared that, “federal agencies also will be ordered to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies ‘and identify new opportunities to spur innovation.’ Separately, Mr. Biden called on the campaign trail for overhauling tax breaks to oil companies — worth billions of dollars to the oil, coal, and gas industries — to help pay for his $2 trillion climate change plan. However, that plan is expected to face strong opposition in Congress.” Once again, it’s expected that Congress will oppose much of the bill. Regardless, the Biden administration looks to push on.
How The Executive Orders Pertain To Solar
Biden spoke about his recent executive orders. The Guardian’s Milman stated,
“the president framed the actions as a remedy to pandemic-driven unemployment as well as an environmental benefit. Biden said that millions of well-paid jobs would flow from investments in clean energy such as solar and wind, as well as energy efficiency measures for homes and the clean-up of former oil wells.”
The Biden administration is committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. The executive orders show just that. These orders will stop all fossil fuels from being extracted on federal lands. This is a significant move to push towards renewable energy. The solar industry and environmentalists are elated. Biden’s executive orders will start replacing the government’s vehicles with electric vehicles. There are currently over 640,000 vehicles that could potentially be replaced with a fleet of electric cars. With electric cars and trucks comes the need for charging stations. Biden plans on investing in infrastructure and charging ports that will supply these electric vehicles. These executive orders are just a single step in the right direction. It will take States, municipalities, and citizens to come together to fight climate change. We need to push for a more sustainable future. The solar industry welcomes these executive orders and will continue to advocate for more positive change. This is one of the many reasons why solar has a healthy, positive outlook. To learn more about solar, check out our blog. If you live in Sarasota, FL, and would like a free quote for a solar installation, click here. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sources
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2021/01/22/electric-car-charging-service-evgo-going-public-as-biden-readies-clean-vehicle-push/?sh=214727e26ce6
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/biden-s-push-electric-vehicles-could-take-funding-away-infrastructure-n1255530
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/27/us/biden-trump-impeachment
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/27/joe-biden-climate-change-executive-orders
