Electricity generation | Be a Seed for Change

The White House

Climate Change

The Department of Energy recently released two new reports that make one thing clear: We’re hitting record highs for U.S. wind energy production and manufacturing.

Wind energy is the fastest growing source of power in the United States — representing more than 40 percent of all new U.S. electric generation capacity in 2012. We’ve more than doubled wind and solar power generation in the past four years.

President Obama has made clear that the growth of clean, renewable wind energy is a critical part of his Climate Action Plan, and we’re committed to seeing wind energy production double once again.

Check out the role wind energy is playing in the infographic below, or visit Energy.gov for more.

Union of Concerned Scientists

For decades, coal dominated American energy. Now that’s beginning to change.

With many of the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants due for retirement, our nation is at a crossroads: do we invest in renewable energy, or do we keep generating electricity by burning fossil fuels that are not only expensive but threaten our planet?¹

We’ve launched a campaign to make sure we head down the right path. Our groundbreaking Ripe for Retirement report identified 353 of the worst, most out-of-date coal-fired plants, and since its publication, 45 of the plants we named have been slated for closure!

We’ve mobilized thousands of UCS supporters to contact key power companies, urging them to switch to cleaner, renewable sources of energy. It’s working, but we’ve got to do more. With over 300 plants left to close, we can’t let up.

www.ucsusa.org

The fossil-fuel industry wants you to think that wind and solar aren’t dependable or economical, but we know the truth: renewable energy is already powering homes and businesses across the country—and we’ve only just begun to see the benefits.²

With your support, we’ll move past fossil fuels to a clean energy future. Together, we can make clean energy a reality by:

Protecting and expanding state-based clean energy policies. We’re inspiring voters and lawmakers to support requirements that utility companies generate a certain amount of their electricity from renewable sources. Since March, we’ve delivered 40,000 letters to over 4,000 state lawmakers nationwide!
Building momentum to cut the nation’s projected oil use in half. We’ve developed a realistic, science-based plan that shows how we can cut our dependency on oil in half in just 20 years. Now we’re getting thousands of people working to support our strategies—meeting with concerned citizens and officials, producing videos and webinars, and mobilizing scientists to educate the public and policy makers.
Fighting to make nuclear power safer. In March, we released our latest nuclear safety assessment while Congress began working on a comprehensive nuclear safety bill. Dozens of news outlets across the country covered it, ensuring that lawmakers heard about the critical issues at stake.

We’re building momentum for a clean energy future—the wind is at our backs. The question is: will we forge ahead with science, or accept the misleading claims that fossil fuels can’t be beat? It’s up to us, Carmen, and we can’t turn back now.

www.ucsusa.org

When we work together, we get tough things done. We’ve won critical whistleblower protections for government scientists, helped craft game-changing vehicle emissions standards, and pushed companies like Pfizer to stop funding the anti-science Heartland Institute.

I hope you’ll stand with us today so we can pull out all the stops to win this next fight.