Words by Tess Becker
The Inflation Reduction Act was a massive sweeping bill in 2022 that focused on a lot of concerns for Americans, including (obviously) tools to reduce inflation in the country.
But some of the widest goals of the act were tied to climate action, and those goals may be seeing some fruit.
A recent analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory states that thanks to some of the things implemented in the Inflation Reduction Act, the American electrical grid could achieve up to 90 percent of its electricity without carbon emissions by 2030.
Much of the increased renewable energy is projected to come from wind and solar projects, which are projected to reach between 40 percent and 62 percent of total power generation by the end of the decade, according to the analysis.
“The results of this analysis demonstrate that IRA and BIL have the potential to drive transformative change in the U.S. power sector,” the analysis states. “... we find that the IRA and BIL could spur substantial increases in clean technology investment in the U.S. power sector, driving down greenhouse gas emissions, all while lowering electricity costs.”
The researchers believe that continued pursuit of this would be beneficial to all.
“Fully realizing these modeled benefits will require action by all jurisdictions of U.S. government—federal, state, and local—the private sector, and civil society to support the beneficial deployment of clean energy technologies.”
