Ken Bone asked the debate question on many Americans’ minds: what does our energy future look like?

It didn’t come until the second-to-last question of Sunday night’s presidential debate, but when it did, the internet had a new favorite star: Ken Bone.

Ken’s question: “What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs, while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job losses for fossil power plant workers?”

Both Trump and Clinton mentioned renewables in their replies.

Since asking posing his query, Ken’s Twitter following has exploded. The web is full of think pieces about him. You can even buy a Ken Bone Halloween costume.

But besides the red sweater, why are people responding so strongly to Ken?

I think it’s because his question touched on a topic that has been conspicuously absent for most of this campaign season. For something that influences nearly every aspect of our days, energy has received scant campaign coverage.

And yet, America’s electricity mix is in the midst of a drastic period of change. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz recently said wind power is changing our energy geography. Last year, wind and solar made up nearly 70 percent of all new electricity generation that came online, and wind is on track to quadruple in size to supply 20 percent of the country’s electricity by 2030.

Within the next 10 years, close to one-third of America’s coal-fired power plants will be retired, according to David Owens, Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Regulatory Affairs for the Edison Electric Institute (the largest U.S. trade association for utilities). Utilities will turn to renewables like wind and solar to fill the gap, as they look to both clean their fleets and satisfy customer demand, particularly among millennials, Owens has noted.

This comes at a time when the country is also looking for ways to cut carbon emissions. While the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan (the country’s first-ever rule to combat CO2 pollution) is argued in federal court, markets are already shifting toward clean energy; many of the states challenging the rule are already on pace to meet their emission reduction targets. The recent ratification of the Paris Agreement is yet another signal to investors that clean energy will play an increasingly important role in our energy mix.

And while our country is in the midst of its biggest political tradition, the evidence clearly shows clean energy is an apolitical topic.

A recent poll found 91 percent of likely voters support growing wind energy, and that includes over 80 percent of self-described conservatives. In traditionally red states like Texas, support for clean energy expansion sits at 85 percent among registered voters. The candidates signaled the bipartisan nature of renewable energy during Sunday’s debate, with their support for wind and solar standing out as a rare instance of agreement.

Trump: “I’m all for alternative forms of energy, including wind, including solar…”

Clinton: “I support moving toward more clean, renewable energy as quickly as we can, because I think we can be the 21st century clean energy superpower and create millions of new jobs and businesses.”

Ken Bone’s question hit on one of the things America does best: innovate, create and work together to solve tough problems. It was a moment of positivity and a reminder that we can still achieve big things. So thank you Ken for bringing the topic up and drawing this critical issue into the limelight.