Just think about for a second. For the first time in hundreds of years, in 2020 clean green energy will be our leading electricity producer.
“It is a milestone that seemed all but unthinkable a decade ago, when coal was so dominant that it provided nearly half the nation’s electricity. And it comes despite the (current) administration’s three-year push to try to revive the ailing industry by weakening pollution rules on coal-burning power plants.
Those efforts, however, failed to halt the powerful economic forces that have led electric utilities to retire hundreds of aging coal plants since 2010 and run their remaining plants less frequently. The cost of building large wind farms has declined more than 40 percent in that time, while solar costs have dropped more than 80 percent.” NY Times, May 2020
We have reached the tipping point in renewable energy pricing and demand in the U.S. and are now crossing over. This will bring a massive shift in energy production and delivery systems that will effectively “democratize” energy in the United States.
What does it mean to democratize energy? It means we can get to carbon reduction faster and fairer. It means that families who have to take out payday loans to pay their electricity bills can use that money for starting a business or college, or healthcare costs. It means that communities, businesses of all sizes, municipalities, counties, school districts, churches, you name it, will have affordable options for carbon free electricity generation that is not dependent on our outdated and overloaded existing energy grid.
The door has been opened, but we still need to proactively keep it that way. For the last several decades we have looked to our elected officials to break down barriers and keep them down. But in doing so, we have given away our individual and collective power to make change. This true for us as individuals and this is true for us as business and community leaders.
Elected representatives are just that – people we have chosen to be our voices and cast our votes in our seats of power. They are not omnipotent beings who know exactly what to do to solve every problem. This has never been more clear in my lifetime than at this moment.
Leaders and “followers” are two halves of a whole. And on any given day most of us are doing both in some part of our lives.
Our national political scene is scorched earth, and I’m not talking about the powerful and righteous protests that are happening across the country. I’m talking about a Congress and national political environment that is so toxic and steeped in partisianship that progress has all but stopped on critical national issues. And many states face the same challenges on the local level. All the while, most Americans are struggling to make ends meet and hungry for opportunity.
You, as business and community leaders, can be the catalyst the creates the forward momemtum we need now. Don’t wait, act.