The US Has Everything It Needs To Leap Towards Net-Zero
No, really, it does.
The US has famously resisted the push towards sustainability. Despite touting itself as a bastion of revolutionary technology, the nation has clung to archaic technologies like coal and gas power to keep the lights on. There are numerous reasons for this, such as upholding US global hegemony, the broken nature of US capitalism, and the politicisation of climate policy. But, as it stands today, nothing is standing in the way of the US reaching net-zero, and I can prove it to you.
Lazard recently revealed the current price per unit of energy for each energy source within the US, and it is a fascinating read. Onshore wind energy is actually free when subsidies are taken into account, but even without these subsidies, it’s still insanely cheap, costing from $27 per MWh. Likewise, utility-scale solar energy costs only $6 per MWh with subsidies, but even without subsidies, it only costs from $29 per MWh. These prices don’t include storage costs, which are needed to ensure these erratic renewables can always meet power demands. But even then, the prices are remarkably low, with onshore wind plus storage costing from $45 per MWh without subsidies and $8 per MWh with subsidies, and solar with storage costing from $60 per MWh without subsidies and $38 per MWh with. In comparison, Lazard found gas…
