With the Inflation Reduction Act as an economic driver, recent numbers are staggering in terms of capacity additions, manufacturing investments, and jobs, to the point where solar is now a dominant technology attracting global investors.
pv magazine USA Week was kicked off with a keynote, “Growing the economy from the middle out,” by Dr. Heather Boushey, member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors and chief economist in the Investing in America Cabinet. Dr. Boushey offered a grounding in the overall economic strategy.
The challenge since 2021 has included recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other long-standing economic challenges such as workers’ pay and productivity. At the same time there is an existential crisis of climate change, evidenced by the number of climate disasters. Dr. Boushey pointed to the four important pieces of legislation: The American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which comprise the “modern American industrial strategy.” She said that through the last three pieces of legislation (BIL, CHIP and IRA), we are saying that some sectors are imperative for us to produce domestically, and these include semiconductors and clean energy technologies.
As China has monopolized core parts of the clean energy supply chain, especially in solar, Boushey said it is difficult to move forward on which means we’re less resilient and less able to move forward on a clean energy economy, unless we invest in those parts of the supply chain.
While there are tensions in certain parts of clean energy sector, there is enormous opportunity, which is why the government is investing in research, infrastructure, supply chain and more. In addition, she emphasized the good jobs being created and that the investments are shaping markets to be fair and competitive.
Metrics of success
The strength of the economic recovery—this has been one of the strongest recoveries in history. The unemployment rate is down below 4%, we have seen growth outpace other countries, we have not had a recession. We have seen inflation is now down to about where it was pre-pandemic. She said this is a successful foundation for our modern industrial strategy.
Over $910 billion in private sector investments have been announced, which is reaching into all parts of the country. Boushey noted that it is not just about the investment, but what it is doing—such as building up communities, providing jobs, bringing clean energy to low-income communities, and more. Furthermore, she noted that building out new ecosystems will have long-lasting effects. We have seen many quarters of historically high investment in new manufacturing, especially in clean energy.
Are we moving fast enough? Boushey concluded that a reasonable way to measure success, considering that climate change is here, is that due to the historic amount of money invested, we are moving faster than forecasters predicted and this is a strong story of successes for building out a clean energy system.
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USA needs about 18-20TW of PV Panels/Cells generating 21-24,000TWh/yr of Pollution Free Electricity to Eliminate Pollution and Usher in a ZERO POLLUTION USA… where Premature Deaths and Suffering due to Pollution would be… history. (Of course, other nations would also have to “Step UP to the Plate” to create a 150TW, 18,000 TWh/yr Pollution Free Electric System and Eliminate Use of ALL Polluting Fuels (mostly Fossil..). The latter would require $400 Trillion for a ZERO POLLUTION EARTH.
The earlier this can be done.. the better as every year saved would reduce the above Deaths & Suffer accordingly. The Global Societal Coshe of Pollution comes to $36.5 Trillion/ yr (9 Million Premature Deaths / yr… $1 Million/Victim; 275 Million DALY of Suffering… $100,000/DALY of year-long Suffering).
A “realistic goal” is 2050 and would Globally require $16 Trillion/ yr for 25 years… and the USA $2+ Trillion/yr…
USA (and most of the world) are simply not doing enough as they “cannot find the $$$$”…
All Nations have “conveniently” forgotten the 1992 UN Rio Agreement, PRINCIPLE #16, that POLLUTERS MUST PAY (PMP) for the Damage & Societal Cost(s) caused by Pollution of their Products, Goods & Services.
A Global, Uniform, Fair & Just PMP Levy of $0.28/KWh on the 130 Trillion KWh/yr of Energy Used around the world today, can Offset the above Socieyal Costs, PAID BY TBE POLLUTERS ONLY and provide the FINANCE to Transition the Polluted-n-Dirty World to a ZERO POLLUTION EARTH… in a Dozen Years…
These funds can then be readily used to create a ZERO POLLUTION EARTH using PV Panels and converting ALL ENERGY CONSUMING SECTORS to Pollution Free Electricity too…