Party Like It's 2035

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Feb 11, 2021

Dr. Leah Stokes discusses achieving 100% clean electricity by 2035. Topics include clean electricity standards, zero-carbon grid, decarbonizing electricity, challenges of transitioning to renewables, land footprint of solar energy, and moonshot solutions for a carbon-neutral grid.

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INSIGHT

Electricity Is The Lever For Economywide Cuts

Decarbonizing electricity is the catalyst to cut emissions across transport, buildings, and industry.
Leah Stokes estimates electrifying plus a clean grid could cut 70–80% of U.S. emissions.

ADVICE

Electrify Everything But With A Clean Grid

Use clean electricity to electrify cars, homes and industry so those sectors decarbonize automatically.
Prioritize grid decarbonization before or alongside large electrification pushes.

INSIGHT

90% By 2035 Is Technically And Cost‑Effective

The 2035 Report finds wind, solar and batteries can reach ~90% zero‑carbon power by 2035 using current tech.
That pathway could lower customer bills roughly 10% versus today.

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President Biden has set a goal of reaching 100% clean electricity in the U.S. by 2035. That means cutting all carbon emissions from the entire electricity sector in just 15 years. So... is that even possible? And if so, how do we pull it off? This week, we talk to experts who say that goal just might be in reach – if we act now.

Calls to action:

Read up on clean electricity standards! It’s the policy approach advocated by some of this week’s guests, including Dr. Leah Stokes, who laid out her vision along with Sam Ricketts of Evergreen Action in a recent Vox article: This popular and proven climate policy should be at the top of Congress’s to-do list: The case for a national clean electricity standard
You can find their full report advocating a national clean electricity standard here: A Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035

Want to read up on a zero-carbon grid? You can find the studies mentioned in this week’s episode, here:

The 2035 Report, from The Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, Grid Lab and Energy Innovation
The Net-Zero America Project, from Princeton University

And don’t forget to check out A Matter of Degrees, the climate podcast hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson.

If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode.

Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Special thanks to our guests: Leah Stokes, Sonia Aggarwal, Jesse Jenkins and Chris Greig.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.

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