Guian Bolisay
In a surprise twist, on July 27, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, announced a deal to invest over $370 billion in clean energy and climate spending. And the time couldn’t be better for it.
Americans are struggling with high prices right now, and high energy prices in particular. While our leaders have rightly been focused on lowering these costs in the short term, long term investments in renewable energy will help us fight these costs for good while protecting the climate.
As an environmental politics scholar, I study how policies promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency can actually help lower energy costs for families. The Biden administration has long been pushing for more investments in these technologies, and some states have already taken action. California, Washington and nearly a dozen Northeastern states have been able to protect families from higher energy costs by implementing “carbon pricing.” These are policies that incentivize the power sector to shift away from fossil fuels toward cleaner sources of electricity.
By charging energy companies for their emissions, these states raised new funds to support more renewable and efficient energy options for residents, saved consumers more than $1.8 billion through 2019 and continue to be extremely popular with families looking to reduce electricity costs.
If enacted, this new legislation would help all Americans reduce their energy prices by implementing similar programs at the national level. The deal would make it easier for citizens to make their homes and vehicles more energy efficient, lowering costs without lowering comfort.
One proven policy included in the latest agreement is a clean energy tax credit — a modest subsidy for new wind and solar energy that helps puts them on more even footing with the heavily subsidized fossil fuel industry. Research has shown that these clean energy tax credits would lower average energy costs for American households. At the same time, the federal government could make substantial progress on reducing carbon pollution linked to climate change through these clean energy provisions.
We know these programs work. The experiences of the states that have implemented carbon pricing show that they were able to cut emissions significantly and help their residents lower their energy costs.
Support for clean energy can also be tailored to ensure it improves environmental and economic conditions for communities of color. Black and brown families also often face even more severe burdens in terms of higher energy costs and higher rates of health problems from pollution that can be addressed with this bill. By prioritizing job training and economic development, and improving tracking and pollution control enforcement of local air pollution “hot spots,” these investments can make our country more equitable.
Between lower energy costs, cleaner air and decreased environmental risks, investments in initiatives like clean energy tax credits offer a wide range of benefits for Americans across the country. With a draft bill in hand, it’s now just up to our representatives to get the job done.