Democrats Get Stuff Performed — Vote Properly!

5 November 2024

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… And They’re USA’s Solely Hope For Competing With China

There’s little question about it — China is totally demolishing the US on the clear expertise financial system, and the world is a clear expertise financial system an increasing number of each day and might be for many years to return. China has robust, guided, clear pro-cleantech coverage, and it now dominates photo voltaic panel manufacturing, electrical car manufacturing and gross sales, EV battery manufacturing, and extra. Europe is doing fairly alright itself within the EV realm because of robust insurance policies requiring that automakers minimize their fleets’ CO2 emissions an increasing number of. The US is cut up in half on cleantech insurance policies, and we’re thus effectively behind China and Europe.

Up to now 47 years, Democratic presidents have constantly supported cleantech, whereas Republican presidents have constantly opposed it. Jimmy Carter put photo voltaic panels on the White Home, amongst different issues. George Bush (the first) took these photo voltaic panels down, amongst different issues. Fossil gasoline industries closely swayed to the GOP facet of the aisle — being probably the most unbalanced business within the nation by way of political donations. Up to now couple of many years, President Obama stimulated huge investments in renewable vitality, electrical autos, and vitality effectivity, notably via the American Restoration and Reinvestment Act. Right here’s a snippet from that linked truth sheet:

“By the American Restoration and Reinvestment Act (Restoration Act), President Obama made the biggest single funding in clear vitality in historical past, offering greater than $90 billion in strategic clear vitality investments and tax incentives to advertise job creation and the deployment of low-carbon applied sciences, and leveraging roughly $150 billion in personal and different non-federal capital for clear vitality investments.

“Clear vitality investments made up over one eighth of complete Restoration Act spending and offered a significant enhance to financial output. A brand new report launched as we speak by the White Home Council of Financial Advisors (CEA) estimates that the complete Restoration Act raised the extent of GDP by between 2 and three % from late 2009 via mid-2011. Along with offering a stimulus, the funding helped tackle market failures in clear vitality markets. The funding reached practically each facet of the worth chain for quite a few key clear vitality applied sciences, together with superior autos, batteries, carbon seize and sequestration, and applied sciences to reinforce vitality effectivity. These investments have been a down fee towards an revolutionary sustainable twenty first century clear financial system and helped the nation take a big step ahead to decreasing fossil gasoline consumption and decreasing carbon air pollution.

“These investments reworked America’s clear vitality financial system by:

- Supporting Job Creation: In a brand new report launched as we speak, CEA estimates that the Restoration Act clear energy-related packages supported roughly 900,000 job-years in revolutionary clear vitality fields from 2009 to 2015. Actually, the Restoration Act offered funding for 180 superior vitality manufacturing initiatives, together with Saft America in Jacksonville Florida the place the President is visiting tomorrow, bringing direct and oblique jobs to communities throughout the nation.
- Scaling up Renewable Power Technology: By mortgage ensures to assist greater than $40 billion of funding in addition to tax credit, the Restoration Act spurred a serious enlargement of renewable vitality technology via greater than 100,000 initiatives throughout the nation, together with one of many world’s largest wind farms and the primary giant scale photo voltaic initiatives. These investments have helped result in dramatic will increase in renewable vitality technology and lowered carbon air pollution. Since 2008, photo voltaic electrical energy technology has elevated over 30 occasions and wind technology has elevated over 3 times. Actually, renewable vitality accounted for greater than half of recent put in energy sector capability in 2015.
- Decreasing Prices: The Restoration Act funding supported a plunge in expertise prices for a lot of clear vitality applied sciences, making them much more aggressive towards fossil gasoline technology. Since 2008, the price of utility-scale photo voltaic PV installations has fallen practically 60 %. Actually, photo voltaic is at the moment at grid parity in 20 U.S. states and 42 states are anticipated to achieve that milestone by 2020 beneath business-as-usual situations. Battery prices for electrical autos have fallen from nearly $1,000/kWh in 2008 to beneath $300/kWh in 2014. The price reductions for these and different applied sciences resulted from plenty of components—together with economies of scale, expertise studying, and new enterprise practices—that have been assisted by the widespread deployment made potential via the Restoration Act.
- Driving Innovation: The Restoration Act offered the seed funding wanted to start out the Division of Power’s Superior Analysis Tasks Company-Power (ARPA-E) program. Immediately, the Administration is saying that this system has invested in 475 transformative vitality applied sciences and its initiatives have secured $1.25 billion in personal sector follow-on funding. ARPA-E can also be saying as much as $30 million in funding for a brand new program referred to as Integration and Optimization of Novel Ion Conducting Solids (IONICS) that seeks to create revolutionary parts for the following technology of batteries, gasoline cells, and different electrochemical units.
- Enhancing Power Effectivity: The Restoration Act funding for Division of Power’s Weatherization Help Program improved the vitality effectivity of low-income residences by weatherizing multiple million properties. On common, these enhancements are saving households greater than $3,000 on their heating and cooling payments over the lifetime of measures put in.
- Selling Grid Modernization: Restoration Act funding for the Good Grid Funding Program helped to assist the set up of 16 million sensible meters by 2016. Good meter initiatives across the nation will help shoppers perceive their vitality use and pricing, serving to to facilitate the transition to a extra resilient electrical grid infrastructure.
- Rising Superior Automobile and Fuels Applied sciences: Gas environment friendly car selections for shoppers have elevated dramatically due partially to the Restoration Act. When the Restoration Act was signed into legislation, there have been only a few electrical car choices obtainable to shoppers and a restricted variety of hybrids. Now we’ve got an enormous set of choices for shoppers to select from with extra fashions to return. Immediately, 16 producers supply 28 electrical car fashions, presenting shoppers with actual selections as they appear to undertake new expertise, enhancing the aggressive place of U.S. business, driving job creation via American innovation, and rising the variety of plug-in electrical autos on U.S. roads to 400,000 on the finish of 2015. Restoration Act investments have additionally supported public transit via the acquisition of 12,000 buses, vans, and rail autos and the development or renovation of over 850 transit amenities.
- Stimulating the Progress of Power Storage: Whereas the deployment of renewable vitality like wind and photo voltaic continues to speed up, thereby decreasing using carbon-intensive fossil fuels, it’s important that we’ve got storage capabilities to efficiently combine new energy sources into the electrical grid. Due partially to investments made in the course of the Restoration Act, we’ve made plenty of progress. In line with a brand new report that might be launched subsequent week, the quantity of battery storage elevated by 500 % from 2012 to 2015. And this occurred whereas, based on exterior analysts, the typical lithium-ion battery value fell 53 % between 2012 and 2015, and by 2019 costs are forecast to say no by half once more. As extra renewable vitality comes on-line, we count on the quantity wanted for storage to speed up considerably. Exterior analysts have projected that storage installations within the US over the following 4 years will complete practically 10 occasions what’s at the moment deployed. These estimates might be even greater as a result of extensions of the renewable vitality tax credit.”

Shifting on to Trump, effectively, he received nearly nothing executed. Not simply regarding cleantech, however regarding something. The one important laws he received handed was huge tax cuts for the tremendous wealthy and companies. This spiked the US deficit whereas not doing something for many People. Companies, which many warned would use the cash for inventory buybacks, used the cash for inventory buybacks. Unsurprisingly, the tax cuts have by no means led to the financial advantages that have been promised. It was a con, however what else are you able to count on from a profession con man?

Joe Biden grew to become president and surpassed Obama by passing the strongest, largest cleantech and local weather answer legal guidelines in US historical past, through the Inflation Discount Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation. These have stimulated monumental investments in photo voltaic expertise manufacturing, EV battery manufacturing, EV manufacturing and gross sales, EV battery cell manufacturing, EV battery mineral mining and refining, and far, way more.

These huge accomplishments are reviving and stimulating blue-collar and high-paying manufacturing jobs within the nation — one thing the nation has been dropping for many years. They’ve additionally pumped cash into important infrastructure initiatives, together with EV charging infrastructure.

The Biden–Harris administration additionally introduced down costs of vital medicines, like insulin, and compelled way more aggressive and inexpensive pricing for pharmaceuticals by giving Medicare the ability of negotiation. Okay, we’re stepping into non-cleantech territories, however the level is evident — Democrats get stuff executed for regular People. They work to create a greater financial system for the lots, not only for the tremendous rich. They really move legal guidelines that make the nation extra aggressive and that decrease prices for many People.

By way of the industries of the long run, Democrats are the nation’s solely hope on the federal stage for persevering with to protect and advance insurance policies that make us extra aggressive with China. Some folks discuss an enormous discuss after which do nothing. Others are doers and actually make issues occur. By way of national-level US insurance policies, just one get together has been on the market doing issues for regular People in recent times. If you happen to haven’t executed so but (and also you’re American), vote correctly tomorrow (November 5). Let’s make the approaching years affluent and constructive.

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