In the coming weeks the political drama in Washington D.C. will center on the Big Beautiful Bill passed by the House and now moving into the Senate.

There’s much to argue over the Big Beautiful Bill - about the only thing the two political parties agree on is that it’s Big.

Here’s what we are missing in the media’s horse race approach to political coverage: This legislation guts the clean energy subsidies passed in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Those measures promote electric vehicles, solar and wind energy, and fund the development of battery storage, hydrogen fuel, and geothermal energy, and more.

We are in fierce competition with China over who will shape the technologies that will define the 21st century. Artificial Intelligence is the primary industry in play – there is no partisan divide over the importance of AI in Washington D.C.

Unlike AI, clean energy is broadly partisan. Republicans on the whole don’t support it, Democrats do.

The Chinese government really likes clean energy. Over the past 20 years China has hijacked two technologies invented in the United States – solar panels and battery storage – and built world-class industries that are positioned to dominate the world market.

Unless the United States gets serious. That was a foundational idea behind the Inflation Reduction Act. Get us back in the clean energy game and compete with the Chinese.

Please contact your U.S. Senator this week and tell them strip out the provisions in the big bill that damage our development of clean energy

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Interest rates are up, car sales and home sales are weak, stock market is a roller coaster, big expensive vacations are out, even going out to dinner feels blah.

Last night, dinner for two at a popular place, no big deal order, sans alcohol, $75. The restaurant was maybe half full at 7:30, we were the last people to leave at 9:00 p.m. – on a Friday night. Food and atmosphere: Meh.

Read this morning in Barron’s that for many businesses, this is “a putting down the pencil moment.” With high tariffs that come and go on a whim, interest rates ticking higher, stubborn inflation and flagging customer demand, business owners are sitting on their hands, unsure of the best path ahead.

Intuition is by definition inexact, and yes, I’m largely talking about intuition when I say I’m not feeling that pep in my consumer step. But the economy is fueled to an extent by intuition. When people feel confident, they spend, they borrow, they acquire. When clouds gather, they pull back and search out shelter.

Like I said, I could well be wrong. What are you seeing right now with your own family, your friends, your work buddies? Has your spending changed in the last six months? Are the restaurants you go to still packed? Let’s hear from you.

The proposal to develop 600 acres of the Guana River preserve collapsed a day after Wiles, President Trump’s Chief of Staff, eviscerated the plan in a letter to Florida officials.

Did the Wiles letter convince the developers to cave? Not by itself – reaction to the vague land swap was uniformly negative and widespread across Northeast Florida among young and old, Republican and Democrat.

Still, when the U.S. President’s Chief of Staff whistles a flagrant foul on you, folding the tent becomes a solid Plan B. Wiles has deep personal and professional roots in Northeast Florida and industrial strength political heft.

Two lessons to learn here:

• People and their opinions matter. Even though the plan was kept under wraps, once it surfaced, people made their strong opposition known.

• Conserving valuable land in a natural state is a politically unifying issue, supported by people in both parties, and by people of all ages. Guana River is a beloved place that people will fight to protect and enjoy.

Now, a little history.

Herb Peyton, founder of Gate Petroleum and no slouch at land development, sold the land that is now Guana State Park to the State of Florida in 1984. Peyton had the wherewithal to develop that oceanfront land and bolster his personal fortune, but he didn’t because he thought it would be better if it become a state park. Peyton was resoundingly right.

For those keeping score, we are now three for three in defeating recent public land grabs in Northeast Florida.Those are: a 2018 proposal to develop the Julington-Durbin Creek Preserve in Duval County, a 2024 proposal to commercially develop a portion of Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County, and now the Guana River preserve land swap.

Which raises the question: What’s next? Hard to say where the next attempt to snatch some gorgeously pristine public land will surface.

This much is certain: the land grabbers will return. Vigilance is required

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The land swap idea has gotten plenty of folks hopping mad, and no doubt there will be lots of hooting and hollering by the opponents at an upcoming meeting in Tallahassee.

That’s fine. But in the interest of balancing the battlefield, let’s take a minute to consider the positives:

• Addressing the critical need for more high-income housing. A perennial concern across Florida, developing Guana will add badly needed housing stock for the well-heeled.

• There’s money in them there swamps. Money for developers, contractors, subcontractors, asphalt companies, landscapers, septic tank installers, realtors, pest control firms, and lawyers – always the lawyers.

• Increased tax base – Here’s the trump card argument for local government types in search of the golden fleece. Until the public figures out who is actually getting fleeced.

• Setting precedent – Many people grasp the quaint notion that state parks, wildlife preserves and conservation lands deserve permanent protection from development. To reframe a prescient Ben Franklin observation: It’s a wilderness, Madam– if you can keep it.

• Everyone loves a mystery -Let’s delve into the details of the developer’s land offering in return for the Guana land. Maybe there’s a hidden gem in the offing. Just saying.

So there you go, some oblivious positives you can bring up at the May 21 meeting in support of the development of the Guana River preserve. Time and place: 9 a.m. at the Department of Environmental Protection’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building in Tallahassee. Conference Room 137. See you there!

Let’s cut to the chase: climate change is a downer. Climate activists have struggled with this hard truth. Some advise starting casual conversations with friends and family about rising seas and extreme heat to get folks comfortable with the topic. Good luck with that.

I had a boss who warned me that “you don’t want to be the guy who tosses the turd in the punchbowl.” I guess he thought I was a guy with a penchant for throwing turds in punchbowls because he mentioned it more than once.

Regardless, starting conversations with clever bon mots about the dangers of burning fossil fuels is punchbowl endangerment. Take my word for it.

All this to say that I ‘m clueless on how to get people to care about climate change. Let me be more precise – of course some people care, but to get people to do something – take action, get involved even start a conversation – that’s really hard.

So I’m on the sideline for now. When I figure out a new approach, or someone else does and I can steal their idea, I’ll step back in. In the meantime, I’m going to broaden out my Substack musings. If you have topic suggestions, fire away.

After reading the recent Jax Today editorial that argued that the city of Jacksonville’s expenditure of $750 million for a new stadium for our NFL franchise borders on a reckless gamble, I was reminded of a conversation that took place after the American evacuation of Saigon in April 1975 between an American colonel and a North Vietnamese colonel.

“You know, you never defeated us on the battlefield,” said the American. The North Vietnamese colonel pondered this remark for a moment. “That may be so,” he replied, “but it is also irrelevant.”

Many of the points Mike Clark made in his editorial are solid. Such as:

• Yes, Jacksonville has committed much of its discretionary income by funding half of the $1.5 billion stadium, limiting the city’s options to fund other crucial priorities

• Yes, the city has huge infrastructure needs in terms of affordable housing, and building flooding resilience to climate change, not to mention maintaining roadways and building for the future

• True, there’s little insight on how to fund a new jail or pay generous benefits for police and firefighters

And yet, it’s irrelevant. The stadium deal is set. The die is cast.

Stadium supporters will tell you that the future economic benefits of keeping the Jaguars in town and building up an entertainment zone on Downtown’s doorstep will, in time, make the stadium costs worthwhile, and more.

Also believed but not as openly stated is this: Shelling out a huge pile of taxpayer money for a football stadium is a tough nut to crack, but there’s something even worse for a city – losing your NFL franchise. That’s reputational suicide for a medium-sized city with big ambitions.

Bringing the NFL to Jacksonville to help build “a world-class city” (a brilliantly aspirational phrase that means many things to many people) has been a cornerstone of Jacksonville economic development planning since the Jake Godbold administration in late 1970s. Colt Fever, anyone?

And guess what? It’s worked, even if our team has been mostly a cellar dweller. We have an NFL team, baby, and the NFL is the biggest and baddest professional sports league anywhere. The shine on Jacksonville from being an NFL city is real. People from far away no longer say, “Jacksonville, now where in Florida is that?”

Clark makes another excellent point by calling for a summit to prescribe the budgetary “tough love” Jacksonville needs to somehow climb out of the financial chasm created by the stadium deal.

But we’ll need more than an austerity plan from some smart accountants.

Jacksonville needs to grow its businesses, improve its educational assets, its cultural offerings, and yes, its tax base.

The best case: Jacksonville, after decades of fits and starts, morphs into the type of city that attracts ambitious and successful people from around the world to work and play and stay here.

In other words, a world-class city.

Way back when, my family played the “find the license plate” game while beating back boredom on a long family drive. The idea was to check off the most number of state plates, from further away the better.

Today I play a new version of that game – “count the EVs” among the passing cars.

This is not a game for the attention impaired. I’d guess about one in 100 cars I see are electric these days, better than last year but still a far cry from the far-too-optimistic projections of the EV transition from recent past.

Now consider Norway, which according to the Washington Post, citing vehicle registration data, is the first country in the world to have more electric than gas powered cars on the road.

This statistic comes with a big asterisk, but still it’s significant. In Norway, about 33 percent of the cars run on diesel fuel - a fossil fuel but not gasoline. Yeah, this is a squirrely way of claiming you have more electric than gas powered cars, but still…

Of the 2.8 million cars owned in Norway, 26.3 percent are fully electric. In the U.S., it’s 1.2 percent of our cars and trucks,  according to J.D. Power as cited in the Post. So, I guessed right, about one in 100 vehicles here are electric.

Playing “find the EVs” in Norway is a much easier game. Probably boring, actually. Electric cars  are all over the place.

Meanwhile, big American and European automakers this year have scaled back ambitious plans to build electric cars and trucks because not as many people are buying them as automakers anticipated.

The high cost of electrics, high interest rates, sluggish growth in EV charging networks, and yes, even political turbulence have all contributed to a cooled off market for electrics in this country.

Still, seven percent of new car sales in the U.S. in 2023 were electric, and that percentage will rise this year - just not as fast as once thought.

For most early adopters, helping the environment by supporting clean transportation has been a strong incentive to own an electric car. But are climate concerns enough to convince a majority of drivers to turn toward electric cars?

Clearly not. Saving the world’s climate will not win the masses over, but saving time and money will. And, not to be underestimated, driving an electric car is a blast.

EV drivers love charging their cars for a fraction of what a gas fill up costs, and the maintenance costs of electrics is much lower than gas-powered vehicles. The fact that public chargers are limited is tapping the brakes on electric car sales for now. But that problem will eventually be solved.

Electric cars cost more, it’s true, but that won’t last. Chinese automakers already make and sell  electrics for under $20,000. European and American manufacturers will figure out how drive down prices soon enough.

In the meantime, the U.S. has tacked on 100 percent tariffs (and in Europe, similar tariffs are expected soon) on Chinese electrics to keep them from flooding into our markets and blowing up domestic carmaker markets and profits. So obviously, the carmakers believe that demand for EVs will take off when the prices come down, as has occurred in China.

Over the next 20 years there will be many twists and turns, dips and surges as our cars and trucks and motorcycles and lawn mowers and farm equipment and boat motors and even our planes transition to electric power. How fast this happens is mostly guesswork, but what’s certain is the trajectory. Electrification of transportation (and manufacturing and home heating and cooling) is the future because it is far more efficient, and less polluting than burning oil, coal and gas.

I probably won’t live to see this but my son and daughter will - when families on the road try to spot the ICE cars - internal combustion engines. That “one in 100” ratio – gas to electric power – is no game but an essential step to curb carbon pollution and cool down our planet.

I am grateful for JEA, and the people that work there. Through all of the storms and scorching summers I have experienced in Jacksonville, I have only been without electricity once - and that was for just two hours.

Indeed, I am grateful for fossil fuels. My great-grandfather was a coal miner whose grueling work provided a better future for his family – turning the lights on for their generation, ushering in washing machines, and improving access to food with the introduction of refrigerators.

Florida as we know it would not exist without AC. The people that developed these technologies and provided the power to keep them running ensured a better future for subsequent generations. With gratitude to those that have come before us, we must do the same. We must secure the future of our next generation by moving on from fossil fuels.

For 800,000 years the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere has never been more than 300 parts per million (ppm). The year I was born, it was 334ppm (you can check out the levels on your birthday here). In May 2024 we hit 427 ppm.  The rise in CO2 corresponds to rising temperatures – if you have any doubt you can take a look at this graph of historical temperatures (notice the vertical line that starts at the beginning of the industrial revolution).

We are lucky to live in a time where proven technologies are available to power our world without the use of fossil fuels. It will take time to convert our entire economy, but the transition is well underway across our country.

The introduction of new products follows a well-documented path which MBA types will recognize as the “Diffusion of Innovation”. History shows the same trend again and again – from electric lights to dishwashers to cell phones.

The first people to use new tech are the innovators and early adopters. They tend to like whatever is “new”, and are okay with things being not quite perfect (this is your friend that stood in line overnight for the latest iPhone). The early majority are pragmatists, who will wait until a product is reliable before jumping in. If you look at a bell curve, these groups typically make up half of all consumers.

Rounding out the back half are the late majority and the laggards. The late majority wait to see how things fare for the early majority. And the laggards – well, they are the equivalent of that one friend that you have that still uses a flip phone.

As a ratepayer and customer, I certainly would not want my utility to be an innovator or early adopter of new technologies – JEA has always kept my lights on and my AC running. I don’t want that to change – especially on a hot day.

There is also a standard path for accelerating the diffusion of innovations. Early adopters are going to try anything new - they don’t need any encouragement. The early majority are often willing to switch, they just need a nudge. Incentives such as the ones provided in the Inlfation Reduction Act (IRA) to buy electric vehicles of switch to heat pumps provide that nudge.

Once a technology hits mainstream, the incentives go away since the concept is already proven.  And at the tail end of the curve – your friend with the flip phone – not only are the incentives no longer available, but regulation starts to come in – such as the recent EPA rules to curb emissions from electric utilities.

This year, 96% of new power generation coming online in the US will come from renewable sources. We are well past the early majority.

While a switch to 100% clean energy is not going to happen tomorrow, it will happen. Most cities in our the state have made commitments to get there by 2050. That means that many of the current JEA employees will see the shift to clean energy during their careers.  

Let us show our gratitude to the men and women of JEA by preparing them for the inevitable transition to renewable energy. The workforce incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will eventually go away. If JEA continues to wait and becomes a laggard, not only will the federal incentives dry up, but a transition to green energy will become more expensive.

In the climate sphere, we’ve got to celebrate good news. Here goes:

“The renewables revolution – led by solar and wind – is breaking records and driving ever-cleaner electricity production. The world is now at a turning point where solar and wind not only slow emissions growth, but actually start to push fossil generation into decline.” – Global Electricity Review 2024 executive summary

I’ve written before about the surge in clean energy, and the consistent efforts of the oil and gas industry and some politicians (yes, you, Governor Ron DeSantis) to stifle the clean energy surge.

But this recent report highlights the rise of renewable clean energy around the world.

Among the finding in the report:

• Growth in generating electricity with solar and wind in 2023 meant that for the first time, 30 percent of the electricity produced around the world was clean energy.

• The primary reason behind the surge in solar power is economic. Solar power is the cheapest way to generate new electrical power in most parts of the world, and that cost is steadily falling.

• China is leading the world in bringing clean energy online. China was responsible for 63% of the solar additions worldwide in 2023, and 65% of wind. This was a record high share and a significant increase from installing  43% of global solar additions in 2022 and 48% of wind.

• The report says that fossil fuel use around the world has peaked, and that a continued decline can be expected far into the future, as the costs of solar and wind power, and electrical battery storage continue to decline.

• The increased use of wind and solar to generate electricity for utilities is critical to achieve the needed increase in clean electric power required by electric vehicles, heat pumps, electrolysers for hydrogen production, air conditioning and data centers.

These are some of the highlights of the report. There’s a lot more here for climate nerds to get excited about.

And there’s more…

Canary Media reports that this year more than $1 trillion will be spent of building clean energy, nearly double what will be invested in oil, coal, and gas in 2024, citing  the International Energy Agency’s new report “World Energy Investment 2024.”

Again, the reason is the continued fall in the cost of solar power and wind, coupled with the growing number of countries that are promoting green energy.

The big picture:

We’re finally on the right track, the trends are favorable.Yet there’s no room for complacency in efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate the burning of coal, oil and gas for energy. We have damaged our planet, and we have to stop to avoid an ever-worsening climate crisis. These promising trends show that is possible.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, in partnership with the City of Jacksonville, promise to build “the stadium of the future.”

The artist renderings of a mammoth metallic teardrop cowling seemingly suspended over the new stadium sure looks futuristic. Yet building a true beacon for the future will require more than aesthetics.

Simply put, the future is green. The fact is, when it comes to designing sports stadiums these days, sustainability is routinely being built in – solar power, electric battery storage, rainwater reuse, native plantings, serving locally grown food, improved mass transit options and other ideas are being adopted across the country.

 Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles, and Climate Pledge Stadium in Seattle – to name just three – have been built to emphasize green operations. In England, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium runs on 100 percent renewable energy

“When you do things right, you save money and you help the environment,” said Mary Tappouni, president of Breaking Ground Contracting, a pioneering Jacksonville company in the field of sustainable construction. “It’s a win-win and easy to come to consensus.”

One way for the city and the Jaguars to maximize efforts to build and operate a sustainable stadium, Tappouni said, is to form partnerships with JEA, which provides electric and water service, and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, which runs buses and the upcoming autonomous shuttle service.

Jacksonville’s Sustainability Manager, Ashantae Green, and her team have begun studying ways to build a green stadium in Jacksonville which would find support in the administration of Mayor Donna Deegan.

So far, there has been no interest from the public to build a sustainable stadium, even in the series of public hearings the team and the city held recently. Interest from the public would help the effort, she said.

Do you think Jacksonville’s Stadium of the Future should be a leader in sustainability to help the environment and reduce operational costs? Please send an email to Mayor Donna Deegan and City Council President Ron Salem to let them know that the future of football in Jax is green. 

All signs are pointing to a dangerously active hurricane season. And those signs have climate change fingerprints all over them. Florida gets hit by more hurricanes than any other state, so people in Florida need to be on guard.

As with most things climate change, our story begins with heat - more heat in the air, more heat in the ocean. A hotter ocean breeds stronger hurricanes, a warmer atmosphere holds more rain and promotes severe weather.

This year, we have an added variable, as an El Nino weather pattern is expected to slide into place by mid-summer. Typically, El Ninos allow more hurricanes to develop because they tend to tamp down the shearing cross-winds that can break down a hurricane’s structure. Put it all together and we have the most aggressive hurricane forecasts ever for our 2024 season, which runs until November 30.

“Fine, you’ve got my attention. What should I do about it?”

A comprehensive and clear thinking guide to preparing for hurricane season is on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website. Here’s a list of topics:

• Know your risk: Water and Wind

• Take action today

• Understand forecast information

• Get moving when a storm threatens

• Stay protected during storms

• Use caution after storms
  Let’s add this: Consider buying flood insurance to protect your home or business. Property insurance generally covers wind damage only. But flooding from a hurricane or tropical storm is common, and often is more destructive than wind damage.

“OK, that makes sense, but what about the bigger problem, climate change?”

There’s no getting around the science. The earth is heating up, first and foremost, because of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The primary source of this buildup is from the burning of fossil fuels - coal and oil (gasoline for cars and trucks) and natural gas.

The solution is simple. We need to cut back and eventually stop burning fossil fuels. The solutions are not as difficult as many would like you to think. In the short term – let’s say the 2024 hurricane season that is upon us – driving less or cutting back on hamburgers isn’t going to make a difference. Over the long term – the rest of your life and the lives of your children and grandchildren – there is no alternative. We need clean energy to lower carbon dioxide levels.

The best way to get a handle on what you can do as an individual is to consider the changes you can make in how you use energy and promote change. For example: What type of car do you drive? Can you improve the insulation in your home or install solar panels? Can you cut back on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

For an excellent overview on reducing carbon pollution in your life, consider this article from Terry L. Root with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. She writes about the steps a person can take to decarbonize, “By taking these actions, we help facilitate a paradigm shift in energy generation and use. This shift, in turn, can help create both the political and personal will to sustain the major changes needed to help save our fragile planet.”

Climate in the News

• The Stench of Climate Change Denial. This opinion piece has a strong Jacksonville angle. Like many cities in the Southeast, we have a huge problem with septic tanks that is made worse by sea level rise and flooding.

• Vermont becomes 1st state to enact law requiring oil companies pay for damage from climate change – From the state best known for Ben & Jerry’s ice  cream and maple syrup. And Vermont has a Republican governor. Imagine!

• Virginia has the biggest data center market in the world. Can it decarbonize?

  This is a follow-up to our last newsletter, more on the issue of electricity demand soaring from the demand from new data centers, a spinoff from the artificial intelligence boom. JEA has received interest from companies looking to build data centers.

• Here’s some good news: Clean Energy Is Driving ‘a New Era in American Manufacturing’ Across the Midwest

• Americans facing more deadly heat in the workplace – Another story with a strong Florida angle. Remember just last month Florida passed a new law forbidding local governments from passing rules requiring water breaks for outdoor workers. 

• Where heat waves might cause blackouts – This is interesting, you can look up any city in the United States to see what the blackout threat will be in 2050. Spoiler alert: JEA needs to get going on more green energy production.

• The National Weather Service now offers a heat warning map that will forecast high temperatures anywhere in the country for the week ahead.

In recent months, Jacksonville’s electric utility has received, “several inquiries about supporting new large data centers in our service territory,” according to Karen McAllister, Director, Content & Media Relations for JEA. The electric utility is weighing the requests to see how it could meet an increased demand for electricity from the data centers, McAllister wrote in an email.

Across the Southeastern U.S. – North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and elsewhere – power utilities are planning to build natural gas burning generating plants to meet the quickly rising demand for electricity. The booming construction of data centers, driven in part by the insatiable demand for artificial intelligence computing, is creating this spike in electricity demand. Data centers, which run 24/7, consume big electricity loads.

That spells trouble in the fight against climate change. Electric utilities want to build natural gas-fired plants to generate electricity. Once these plants are built, they will be in use for decades, creating carbon dioxide emissions that fuel climate change. Better to supply future electricity needs with solar power, or other clean energy alternatives.

Of note: JEA decided to study the construction of a $1 billion gas-fired generating plant last year, before the recent inquiries from data centers.

To its credit, JEA recently announced a 35-year agreement with Florida Renewable Partners to bring online three solar power facilities to supply 200 megawatts, enough electricity to power 37,000 homes. JEA expects the three sites to be producing electricity by the end of 2026. The utility has set a goal of generating 35 percent of its electricity from clean energy by 2030, a definition that includes nuclear power. With the new solar power included, JEA will be producing about 17% of its power without burning fossil fuels.

If you want green, vote green

We’ve noted before the importance of voting for candidates that support clean energy and who will take the fight to climate change. Last week Gov. Ron DeSantis made clear how crucial it is to get different people into leadership posts across Florida.

Signing into law, legislation that scrubs the words climate change from state statutes and weakens consideration of adopting clean energy when deciding the state’s energy policy, Gov. DeSantis and the Legislature promoted the unabated burning of fossil fuels.

The governor has this wrong. Eliminating sources of the carbon dioxide pollution that is heating the planet is smart and necessary. People in Florida know this. A recent survey by Florida Atlantic University found that 90% of Floridians accept that climate change is happening and 69% support more state action to address it.

By the way, that’s a higher percentage of people in Florida that acknowledge climate change is happening than in the country overall. It’s certainly enough voters to show the exits to DeSantis and the legislators not on board with developing clean energy.

Much has been made of electric vehicles sales in the United States topping out as motorists turn away from EVs.

And the CEO of Saudia Aramco, whose company sells more oil than any other, tells us that the world’s transition to clean energy “is visibly failing on most fronts.”

Nice try. Neither is true. 

J.D Power projects that EV sales will increase by 63 percent this year in the United States, faster than the 50 percent increase in sales in 2023. Construction of EV charging stations is also growing quickly. 

And check this: U.S. government figures show that 94 percent of the new electricity generation built in 2024 will rely on green energy. That’s right, electrical power without burning fossil fuels and without the release of climate-warming carbon dioxide.

Burning natural gas, which today accounts for the biggest single source of fuel used in U.S. power plants, only accounts for four percent of the new generating capacity being added in 2024. 

Clearly, the transition to clean energy is gaining strength. Solar power makes up 58 percent of this year’s new electrical power, battery storage 23 percent, wind power 13 percent, and nuclear power 2 percent. For residential solar home systems, Florida had the third most in the country installed last year.  

The reasons are clear. Renewable, clean energy are cheaper than burning natural gas and coal. Federal subsidies are part of the reason, a steady improvement in the solar, wind and battery technologies is another, and there’s this: Green fuels – sunlight and wind – are free. 

The bigger question:  Why are the falsehoods about the faltering of green energy so common?

Clearly, the head of Saudia Aramco wants to sell as much oil and gas as possible for as long as possible. And there are strong economic and political players who would love to slow down the adoption of electric vehicles and maintain our reliance on burning fossil fuels.

Perhaps important people are relying on outdated information, people making powerful decisions that impact cities, states and regions. 

The Jacksonville Electric Authority, for example. 

The JEA is leaning toward construction of a $1 billion natural gas burning plant to supply a big slice of Northeast Florida’s electrical demands for decades to come. Natural gas costs money, burning natural gas causes air pollution and contributes to climate change.

The JEA isn’t alone in stubbornly clinging to natural gas. Electric utilities, particularly in the Southeastern United States, are citing fast-growing electricity demand as the reason to lean on natural gas in the future.

Yet clearly, from the U.S. government figures cited above, electric utilities across the country are moving toward solar, wind and battery storage when building new generating plants.