The Unfolding Dawn: America’s Green Energy Imperative

Abstract

This essay argues for an accelerated transition to green energy in the United States, framing it as an economic, environmental, and public health imperative. It synthesizes expert commentary and empirical data to build a multi-faceted case for investment in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal power. The essay contends that a green energy transition will stimulate economic growth through job creation, particularly in manufacturing and technology sectors, while reducing the economic volatility associated with fossil fuel dependency. Furthermore, it highlights the profound environmental benefits, including the mitigation of climate change and the preservation of natural ecosystems. Finally, the essay underscores the significant public health advantages of reducing air and water pollution from combustible energy sources. It concludes by asserting that a decisive shift to a green energy infrastructure is not merely a policy choice but a critical investment in the long-term prosperity, health, and security of the nation. There is a link to download a .pdf of this paper at the bottom before the endnotes. Kevin Parker – Sane Earth – September 2025

Listen to our Deep Dive summary of the essay

Time to Transit to Green Energy

The American story is one of reinvention, of meeting pivotal moments with bold vision. We now stand at such a juncture, a confluence where the streams of a warming planet, a volatile global economy, and a persistent public health crisis converge. This is not a time for disparate solutions, but for a singular, unifying answer: a decisive and ambitious transition to green energy.

This shift is no longer a matter of distant aspiration but of immediate, practical necessity. It represents a strategic path toward national renewal, promising an economic renaissance, a healthier populace, and a more secure and resilient future. As former President Barack Obama articulated, “To truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.”¹

That profitability is no longer a future hope; it is a present reality. To understand the journey ahead, one must first grasp the landscape of today. While renewable sources are a growing force, our national grid remains overwhelmingly dependent on the carbon-emitting fuels of the past century.

Table 1: U.S. Utility-Scale Electricity Generation by Source (2022)

Source	Generation (TWh)	Share of Total U.S. Electricity (%)
Natural Gas	1,826.9	42.5%
Coal	830.8	19.3%
Wind	434.3	10.1%
Nuclear	771.6	18.0%
Hydro	254.8	5.9%
Solar	205.1	4.8%
Biomass	51.8	1.2%
Geothermal	16.1	0.4%
Petroleum & Other	64.5	1.5%

*Source: Data compiled from U.S. Energy Information Administration figures.*²

This report makes the case for rapidly and decisively transforming this energy profile. It will explore the three core pillars of the green energy imperative: the economic renaissance it promises, the profound public health dividend it will pay, and the technological horizon that makes this vision not just possible, but practical. This is the argument for choosing our future, for harnessing the inexhaustible power of sun, wind, and water to write the next great chapter of American progress.

The Economic Renaissance

For decades, the narrative of environmental action was framed as a choice between a healthy planet and a healthy economy. That paradigm is now obsolete. The transition to green energy is not a cost to be borne but an economic opportunity to be seized—a chance to build a more prosperous, resilient, and equitable American economy for the 21st century.

The Unstoppable Economics of Renewables

The primary force driving the energy transition is no longer solely policy or environmentalism, but raw, undeniable economics. A revolution in technology has sent the cost of renewable energy plummeting, making clean power the most affordable and competitive source of new electricity generation in history.

Between 2010 and 2019, the cost of utility-scale solar photovoltaics fell by a staggering 82%, while the cost of onshore wind dropped by 39%.³ This dramatic decline has fundamentally altered the energy market. Globally, renewable sources were more cost-effective than fossil fuels for 91% of all new electricity capacity added in 2024, with the average levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for onshore wind hitting just 0.034perkilowatt−hour(/kWh$) and solar reaching $0.043/kWh.⁴

This economic reality has been long foreseen by energy visionaries. Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, declared, “Solar and wind are now the cheapest bulk power sources in 91% of the world… The energy revolution has happened. Sorry if you missed it.”⁵ Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz connected this technological progress to broader prosperity, noting, “there is a good chance that the green transition will result in markedly lower energy costs… And if the energy cost is lower overall, that will stimulate growth.”⁶

This powerful economic momentum created the very conditions that made landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) politically feasible. The steep cost declines made subsidizing renewables far more efficient and palatable than a decade prior. The IRA, in turn, was designed as an industrial strategy to capitalize on this trend, creating a self-reinforcing cycle: falling costs enable ambitious policy, which drives economies of scale, which further reduces costs, cementing the economic dominance of clean energy.

The Engine of American Job Creation

Beyond delivering cheaper electricity, the green energy sector has become a powerful engine for American job growth. It is creating high-quality, well-paying careers across every state at a rate that far outpaces the broader economy.

The clean energy sector already employs over 3.5 million Americans, with jobs in the field growing more than twice as fast as the overall U.S. labor market in 2023.⁷ Clean energy occupations now outnumber fossil fuel jobs by a margin of more than three to one.⁸ These are not just jobs, but good careers; they pay, on average, 25% more than the national median wage and are more likely to include health and retirement benefits.⁹

The growth is widespread. The solar industry alone employed nearly 280,000 people in 2023, with job growth recorded in 47 states.¹⁰ Meanwhile, wind turbine technician has become the nation’s single fastest-growing occupation.¹¹ As Donnel Baird, founder of BlocPower, observes, this growth holds a deeper promise: “We believe that the green energy industry has the potential to lift historically disenfranchised communities out of poverty, across the country, at massive historical scale.”¹²

This explosive growth, however, reveals the transition’s next great challenge. The primary constraint is shifting from simply creating jobs to actively filling them with skilled labor. Projections warn of “material shortages in the workers needed,” including a potential shortfall of over 40,000 electricians and 7,000 wind technicians to meet deployment goals.¹³ The success of the green transition now depends as much on developing this human capital—through vocational training, apprenticeships, and partnerships with unions and community colleges—as it does on financial capital.

The Inflation Reduction Act: A Manufacturing Supercharger

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 stands as the most significant piece of climate and industrial policy in American history. It is a strategic blueprint designed to onshore clean energy manufacturing, secure domestic supply chains, and trigger a revitalization of the nation’s industrial base.

The scale of the investment is historic, with independent analyses projecting its climate provisions could direct between $900 billion and $1.2 trillion into the economy.¹⁴ The law dedicates over $50 billion specifically to boost clean manufacturing, an investment estimated to create 900,000 jobs over the next decade.¹⁵ Key provisions, like the 48C Advanced Energy Project tax credit, incentivize companies to build new factories or retool existing ones to produce everything from solar panels and wind turbines to batteries and electric vehicles.¹⁶

The impact has been immediate and profound. Since the law’s passage, companies have announced over $115 billion in new manufacturing investments, sparking the creation of a “Battery Belt” that stretches across the industrial heartlands of the Midwest and Southeast.¹⁷ This is not a random distribution of capital; it is a deliberate, place-based industrial strategy. The IRA provides bonus credits and targeted funding for projects in “energy communities”—regions that have historically depended on fossil fuels and now face economic uncertainty.¹⁸

This structure reveals the law’s deeper logic. For decades, a primary barrier to climate action was political opposition from regions fearing the economic devastation of a transition away from coal, oil, and gas. The IRA confronts this reality by working to transform these potential opponents into the primary beneficiaries of the new energy economy. It is more than a climate bill; it is a strategic effort to remap the political economy of energy in America, building a broad and durable coalition for decarbonization by ensuring its benefits are shared by those who powered the nation through the last century.

The Health of a Nation

The case for green energy extends far beyond the balance sheet. A transition away from fossil fuels represents one of the most significant public health interventions of our time—a chance to clean our air, prevent chronic disease, save tens of thousands of lives each year, and build a more just and equitable society.

The Hidden Toll of Fossil Fuels

The true cost of our fossil fuel-based energy system is not measured in dollars alone, but in human lives. The combustion of coal, oil, and gas releases a toxic cocktail of pollutants that inflicts a staggering, often invisible, toll on public health.

Fossil fuel-fired power plants are the nation’s largest stationary source of pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx​), sulfur dioxide (SO2​), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5​), as well as neurotoxins like mercury.¹⁹ The link between these emissions and human suffering is scientifically indisputable, contributing to a litany of ailments including heart disease, lung cancer, asthma attacks, neurological disorders, and premature death.²⁰ As former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy stated, the scientific consensus is clear: “Scientists are as sure that humans are causing climate change as they are that cigarette smoke causes lung cancer. It’s our moral responsibility to act.”²¹

This is a global crisis with a local impact. Former Vice President Al Gore powerfully connected the two, noting that the same facilities driving the climate crisis also create “particulate air pollution… causing the deaths of 8.7 million people per year.”²² This silent pandemic is a direct consequence of our energy choices.

The Clean Air Dividend

The shift to clean energy sources like wind and solar, which produce no operational air pollutants, offers a profound and quantifiable “health dividend.” By turning off the spigot of fossil fuel pollution, we can prevent countless illnesses, dramatically reduce healthcare costs, and save thousands of American lives every year.

The benefits are immense. A comprehensive study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that achieving 100% clean electricity by 2035 could avoid up to 130,000 premature deaths in the United States and generate up to $400 billion in public health savings from avoided mortality.²³ The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that diversifying our energy mix with renewables could save Americans up to $77 billion annually in total health costs.²⁴

Even incremental progress yields powerful results. The adoption of wind and solar in 2022 alone is credited with preventing between 1,200 and 1,600 premature deaths in the U.S.²⁵ This data reframes the entire economic debate around the energy transition. The projected costs of decarbonizing the grid, while substantial, are dwarfed by the benefits. The NREL study found that the combined health savings and avoided climate damages could deliver a total net benefit to society of up to $1.2 trillion, far exceeding the investment required.²⁶ The health benefits are not merely a “co-benefit” of climate action; they are a core economic justification for it, transforming the transition from an environmental mandate into a fiscally prudent public health imperative.

An Equation of Equity

The health burdens of fossil fuel pollution are not borne equally. They fall disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color, which are far more likely to be located near power plants and other industrial facilities.²⁷ The transition to clean energy is therefore an essential and powerful tool for advancing environmental justice.

By retiring the dirtiest power plants, we can deliver the greatest health benefits to the most vulnerable populations. A landmark Harvard University study found that the health and climate benefits of new renewable projects are not uniform; they are four times greater when installed in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions, where they primarily displace coal-fired power, than in California, where they tend to displace cleaner natural gas.²⁸ This underscores the importance of a strategic, equity-focused deployment of clean energy.

This principle is recognized at the highest levels of global health. The World Health Organization has concluded that a rapid global transition to clean energy would improve air quality so profoundly that the resulting health gains would repay the cost of the investment twice over.²⁹ Clean energy is not just a climate solution; it is a prescription for a healthier, more just, and more equitable nation.

The Technological Horizon

The final pillar of the case for green energy is one of feasibility. Opponents often frame a 100% renewable future as a utopian fantasy, impractical and unreliable. Yet this argument crumbles in the face of relentless technological progress, which is making a clean energy system not only possible but increasingly practical, resilient, and intelligent.

The March of Innovation

The pace of advancement in the clean energy sector is exponential. A torrent of innovation is continuously improving the efficiency, lowering the cost, and expanding the versatility of renewable technologies.

In solar energy, laboratory efficiency records for photovoltaic cells are now nearing 50%, a dramatic leap from just 25% at the turn of the century.³⁰ New materials like perovskites promise to push these limits even further while lowering manufacturing costs.³¹ Innovations like bifacial panels, which capture reflected sunlight from their undersides, can boost a project’s energy generation by up to 20%.³²

The wind industry is seeing a similar surge. Next-generation turbines with larger rotors and more sophisticated controls, guided by advanced computational modeling, are increasing the total output of wind farms by 4–5%.³³ As energy expert Varun Sivaram argues, realizing the full potential of these resources depends on a sustained commitment to innovation across “creative financing, revolutionary technologies, and flexible energy systems.”³⁴

Taming the Grid: From Intermittency to Reliability

The primary technical challenge of renewables—their variable output, or intermittency—is actively being solved. A suite of advanced technologies is transforming the nation’s grid from a rigid, centralized system into a flexible, resilient, and intelligent network capable of managing a high penetration of clean energy.

The most critical development is in energy storage. The cost of utility-scale battery systems has plummeted by an astonishing 93% since 2010, making them an economically viable tool for grid management.³⁵ These Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) can absorb excess solar and wind power and discharge it when needed, providing essential services like voltage regulation and frequency stability that maintain a reliable flow of electricity.³⁶

Simultaneously, our grid is becoming smarter. The integration of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, and the Internet of Things (IoT), allows for the real-time matching of electricity supply and demand, optimizing the entire system.³⁷ Perhaps the most crucial innovation is occurring within the power electronics themselves. A new generation of “grid-forming” (GFM) inverters is replacing older “grid-following” (GFL) models. Unlike their predecessors, which passively react to the grid, GFM inverters can actively create a stable grid voltage and frequency, allowing wind and solar farms to provide the essential stability services once monopolized by fossil fuel plants.³⁸

This wave of new technology reveals a deeper truth about the transition. The challenge of intermittency is not a barrier that will halt the growth of renewables; rather, it has become the primary catalyst for the complete modernization of the American electricity grid. We are not merely swapping one type of generator for another; we are being compelled by the very nature of renewables to build a smarter, more flexible, and more resilient 21st-century energy infrastructure.

A Feasible Future: The 100% Roadmap

Comprehensive, state-by-state analyses have moved the vision of a fully renewable America from the realm of theory to the world of concrete planning. These roadmaps demonstrate that a 100% clean energy system is technically and economically viable using technologies that exist today.

The landmark plan developed by Professor Mark Z. Jacobson and his colleagues at Stanford University provides a detailed pathway to power all 50 states with 100% wind, water, and solar (WWS) by 2050.³⁹ A key finding is that electrifying all sectors of the economy—including transportation, heating, and industry—would reduce America’s total end-use energy demand by approximately 39%. This massive efficiency gain stems from the inherent superiority of electric motors and heat pumps over internal combustion engines and furnaces.⁴⁰

The plan also directly addresses concerns about land use. It projects that the physical footprint of all the necessary solar panels and wind turbines would occupy only about 0.42% of U.S. land. The wider spacing area between wind turbines, which can be co-located with agriculture or grazing, would cover an additional 1.6%.⁴¹ As Jacobson concludes, the path forward is clear: “The main barriers are social, political and getting industries to change… There is very little downside to a conversion, at least based on this science.”⁴²

Choosing Our Future

The case for green energy in the United States is no longer a niche environmental plea but a mainstream imperative for American prosperity, health, and technological leadership. The economic argument is won, with renewables now the cheapest form of new energy on Earth, driving a domestic manufacturing boom and creating millions of good-paying jobs. The public health argument is undeniable, promising cleaner air and a future with fewer preventable deaths and chronic illnesses. The technological argument is sound, with innovation rapidly solving the challenges of building a reliable, 100% clean grid.

This transition is not without its hurdles. Entrenched political opposition, often funded by the industries of the past, remains a significant force.⁴³ The physical act of building the future—siting new solar and wind farms and constructing thousands of miles of new transmission lines—faces a daunting thicket of permitting delays and land-use conflicts.⁴⁴

Yet these are not insurmountable barriers; they are simply the next set of problems to be solved. They demand smarter policies, such as creative land-use solutions that pair solar generation with agriculture (agrivoltaics) and a deep commitment to early and authentic community engagement to ensure local populations share in the benefits of the projects they host.⁴⁵ They demand that we reject the paralysis of despair, which climate scientist Michael Mann identifies as a greater threat today than outright denial.⁴⁶

The choice is ours. We can remain tethered to the volatile, polluting, and increasingly expensive energy sources of the 20th century, or we can embrace the dawn of a new energy era. More than a century ago, the inventor who electrified America, Thomas Edison, saw the future with stunning clarity: “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”⁴⁷ That future is now within our grasp. It is not something to be passively awaited, but a destiny to be actively, and urgently, built.

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Notes

1. Barack Obama, quoted in “20 Quotes on Sustainable Energy Emphasizing the Need for Green and Clean Options,” Executive Headlines, accessed October 2025, https://executiveheadlines.com/erp/quotes-on-sustainable-energy; Wikipedia, “Portal:Renewable energy/Quotes,” last modified September 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Renewable_energy/Quotes.
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3. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, “Renewable Energy,” accessed October 2025, https://www.c2es.org/content/renewable-energy/; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “A Guide to Purchasing Green Power,” August 2018, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-08/documents/guide-purchasing-green-power-3.pdf.
4. Alessandro Petrone, “Renewable energy costs beat fossil fuels in 2024 installations,” Rinnovabili.it, August 12, 2025, https://www.rinnovabili.net/business/energy/renewable-energy-costs-2024-vs-fossil-fuels/.
5. Amory Lovins, quoted in Jonathan Watts, “Energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins: ‘It’s the largest, cheapest, safest, cleanest way to address the crisis’,” The Guardian, March 26, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/26/amory-lovins-energy-efficiency-interview-cheapest-safest-cleanest-crisis.
6. Joseph Stiglitz, “Joseph Stiglitz: A Recipe for Green Growth,” Green European Journal, accessed October 2025, https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/joseph-stiglitz-a-recipe-for-green-growth/.
7. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, “Job Creation and Economic Growth,” accessed October 2025, https://www.energy.gov/eere/job-creation-and-economic-growth; U.S. Department of Energy, “DOE Report Shows Clean Energy Jobs Grew at More Than Twice the Rate of Overall U.S. Employment,” accessed October 2025, https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-report-shows-clean-energy-jobs-grew-more-twice-rate-overall-us-employment.
8. E2, “Clean Jobs America 2024,” 2025, https://cleanjobsamerica.e2.org/.
9. E2, “Clean Jobs, Better Jobs: An examination of clean energy job wages and benefits,” October 22, 2020, https://cleanjobsamerica.e2.org/.
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11. American Clean Power Association, “Clean Energy Labor Supply,” 2021, https://cleanpower.org/resources/cleanenergylaborsupply/.
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13. American Clean Power Association, “Clean Energy Labor Supply.”
14. John Bistline, Neil R. Mehrotra, and Catherine Wolfram, “Economic Implications of the Climate Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2023, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/BPEA_Spring2023_Bistline-et-al_unembargoedUpdated.pdf; Brookings Institution, “Economic Implications of the Climate Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act,” March 2023, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/economic-implications-of-the-climate-provisions-of-the-inflation-reduction-act/.
15. BlueGreen Alliance, “Manufacturing Investments in the Inflation Reduction Act,” August 24, 2022, https://www.bluegreenalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/BGA-IRA-Manufacturing-Investments-Factsheet-82422-FINAL.pdf.
16. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Summary of Inflation Reduction Act Provisions Related to Renewable Energy,” accessed October 2025, https://www.epa.gov/green-power-markets/summary-inflation-reduction-act-provisions-related-renewable-energy; BlueGreen Alliance, “Manufacturing Investments.”
17. Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, “What Is The Inflation Reduction Act?,” accessed October 2025, https://energyinnovation.org/expert-voice/what-is-the-inflation-reduction-act/; U.S. Department of the Treasury, “FACT SHEET: The Inflation Reduction Act is Delivering for American Workers and Communities,” October 26, 2023, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1830.
18. U.S. Department of the Treasury, “The Inflation Reduction Act’s Benefits and Costs,” November 2023, https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/the-inflation-reduction-acts-benefits-and-costs; U.S. Department of the Treasury, “FACT SHEET.”
19. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Human Health and Environmental Impacts of the Electric Power Sector,” accessed October 2025, https://www.epa.gov/power-sector/human-health-environmental-impacts-electric-power-sector.
20. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, “Health, Safety, and Environmental Impacts,” accessed October 2025, https://www.energy.gov/eere/health-safety-and-environmental-impacts; Union of Concerned Scientists, “7 Benefits of Renewable Energy Use,” July 3, 2025, https://www.ucs.org/resources/benefits-renewable-energy-use.
21. Gina McCarthy, “Administrator Gina McCarthy Remarks at Resources for the Future on the Clean Power Plan as Prepared,” May 2, 2017, https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/speeches/administrator-gina-mccarthy-remarks-resources-future-clean-power-plan-prepared.html.
22. Al Gore, quoted in Oliver Milman, “Fossil fuel burning is threat to health of 1.6bn people, data shows,” The Guardian, September 24, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/24/fossil-fuel-burning-threat-health-16bn-people-data-shows.
23. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “100% Clean Electricity by 2035 Study,” accessed October 2025, https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/100-percent-clean-electricity-by-2035-study.
24. U.S. Department of Energy, “Health, Safety, and Environmental Impacts.”
25. Lancet Countdown, “The 2024 Lancet Countdown U.S. Brief,” 2024, https://www.lancetcountdownus.org/2024-lancet-countdown-u-s-brief/.
26. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, “100% Clean Electricity by 2035 Study.”
27. U.S. Department of Energy, “Health, Safety, and Environmental Impacts”; American Public Health Association, “Clean Energy,” accessed October 2025, https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/climate-health-and-equity/clean-energy.
28. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “Where to install renewable energy to get the greatest climate and health benefits in the U.S.,” October 2019, https://hsph.harvard.edu/climate-health-c-change/news/where-to-install-renewable-energy-to-get-the-greatest-climate-and-health-benefits-in-the-u-s/; Betsy Lillian, “Harvard Study: Where To Reap The Greatest Health Benefits From Renewable Energy,” North American Windpower, October 29, 2019, https://nawindpower.com/harvard-study-where-to-reap-the-greatest-health-benefits-from-renewable-energy.
29. World Health Organization, “Ensure a quick and healthy energy transition,” accessed October 2025, https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/climate-change-and-health/advocacy-partnerships/manifesto/energy-transition.
30. 8MSolar, “Advancements in Solar Panel Technology,” accessed October 2025, https://8msolar.com/advancements-in-solar-panel-technology/.
31. 8MSolar, “Advancements in Solar Panel Technology.”
32. Ibid.
33. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, “Next-Generation Wind Technology,” accessed October 2025, https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/next-generation-wind-technology.
34. Council on Foreign Relations, “Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet,” 2018, https://www.cfr.org/event/taming-sun-innovations-harness-solar-energy-and-power-planet; Varun Sivaram, “We’re doomed if solar energy stalls—here’s how to keep it rising,” TED talk, June 2018, https://www.ted.com/talks/varun_sivaram_we_re_doomed_if_solar_energy_stalls_here_s_how_to_keep_it_rising.
35. Petrone, “Renewable energy costs beat fossil fuels.”
36. S. Saha and M. I. Saleem, “Power System Stability With High Penetration of Renewable Energy Sources: Challenges, Assessment, and Mitigation Strategies,” IEEE Access, January 2025, https://research.usc.edu.au/view/pdfCoverPage?instCode=61USC_INST&filePid=13285499390002621&download=true.
37. D. Szpilko, “Digitalization of the Energy Sector—The Role of Smart Grids in the Transition of the Energy Market,” Energies 18, no. 18 (2025): 5017, https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/18/5017.
38. Zhou Jianjun, “All-Scenario Grid Forming Technology, Accelerating Wind and Solar as Main Power,” Antara News, September 2025, https://en.antaranews.com/news/382024/all-scenario-grid-forming-technology-accelerating-wind-and-solar-as-main-power; Yunjie Gu and Timothy C. Green, “Power System Stability With a High Penetration of Inverter-Based Resources,” Proceedings of the IEEE, January 2022, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361346837_Power_System_Stability_With_a_High_Penetration_of_Inverter-Based_Resources.
39. Mark Z. Jacobson et al., “100% clean and renewable wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) all-sector energy roadmaps for the 50 United States,” Energy & Environmental Science 8, no. 7 (2015): 2093–2117, https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/USStatesWWS.pdf; Stanford University, “Stanford engineers develop state-by-state plan to convert U.S. to 100% clean, renewable energy by 2050,” June 8, 2015, https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2015/06/50states-renewable-energy-060815.
40. Jacobson et al., “100% clean and renewable wind”; Stanford University, “Stanford engineers develop plan.”
41. Jacobson et al., “100% clean and renewable wind.”
42. Mark Z. Jacobson, quoted in Stanford University, “Stanford engineers develop plan.”
43. Oliver Milman and Emily Holden, “Trump administration waging war on wind power, imperiling thousands of jobs,” The Guardian, September 24, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/24/trump-wind-power-threats-homes.
44. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, “Grid Locked: How Land Use Battles Are Hindering the Clean Energy Transition,” June 12, 2023, https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/articles/2023-06-how-land-use-battles-are-hindering-clean-energy-transition/.
45. Samantha Gross, “Renewables, land use, and local opposition in the United States,” Brookings Institution, January 13, 2020, https://www.brookings.edu/articles/renewables-land-use-and-local-opposition-in-the-united-states/; Solar Energy Industries Association, “Climate, Conservation, Community: Moving the Land Use Conversation from Conflict to Solution,” accessed October 2025, https://seia.org/blog/climate-conservation-community-moving-land-use-conversation-conflict-solution/.
46. Michael E. Mann, Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis (New York: PublicAffairs, 2023), quoted in Goodreads, accessed October 2025, https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/20600969.Michael_E_Mann.
47. Thomas Edison, quoted in “60 Quotes About the Future of Renewable Energy”; Edison, quoted in “25 Renewable Energy Quotes,” Elite Solar, accessed October 2025, https://elitesolarsystems.com/renewable-energy-quotes/.

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