The Clean Energy Future Is a Battle for Hearts and Minds
Like many people driving an electric car for the first time, Mikey Marohn had questions: Could he drive hundreds of miles to visit his father without stopping? Where would the chargers be? How did you turn it on?
“I’m anxious,” said Mr. Marohn, a 34-year-old carpenter, as he settled behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Bolt near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
But after a test drive with Alicia Cox, executive director of Yellowstone-Teton Clean Cities, a nonprofit group that promotes green transportation, Mr. Marohn had gone from skeptical to curious.
“I would consider it,” he said after Ms. Cox explained that he could save $3,000 a year in fuel costs if he replaced his Chevy Impala with a Bolt. “I’d like to save money and help the planet.”
Green energy and transportation have advanced faster than many experts thought possible a few years ago. But many hurdles remain, including efforts by conservative politicians to prolong the use of coal, oil and gas and campaigns by environmentalists and local residents to block new wind turbines, transmission lines and mines.
Selling Green Energy
Jae Landreth operates a solar installation business in Baldwin City, Kan., a rural town southwest of Kansas City. Though he believes in climate change, he said, he “learned the hard way” not to mention it when marketing solar panels to his neighbors.
“That’s not how you sell it,” he said over coffee at his home. “Nobody’s ever going to make a decision unless it benefits them in a money sense.”
Where are the investments being done?
Although no Republicans voted for the bill, much of the money has gone to G.O.P.-led states in the South where many automakers, battery manufacturers, and solar companies are building factories in part to take advantage of the law’s tax breaks.
Oaktree’s notes
Looking at the US Green Energy market, there are a few very important things.
- Money
- Money
- Jobs
