Briana Leone's April Media Brief Staff Picks

Both of my articles for this month were found using the key word search ‘energy news’ on the Google search engine The first article, Renewable Energy is Suddenly Startling Cheap, discusses the progressive and steady reduction in renewable energy pricing, one that could make energy transition happen faster and sooner than planned. The article calls for action to be taken promptly if this transition is to be effective in addressing some of the climate repercussions. Among discussions of renewable energy in this article, renewable energy sources being considered right now include hydro, wind, and hydrogen. This article also discusses energy trends but it stresses right now is the best time to switch to renewables, particularly as fossil fuels are running out, prices of renewable energy are going down, and climate change is getting worse.

    The second article, The U.S. Will Need a Lot of Land for a Zero-Carbon Economy, is particularly interesting, especially in its use of visuals to illustrate the current and potential state of energy production in the United States. In a consistent collection of articles on climate change, this article discusses energy transition proposals and financial injections into the United States’ climate action plan. The Biden administration has re-enrolled in a 2050 climate plan. With emphasis on energy transitions, the current and future administrations need to work harder to gain back the 4-6 years lost to the Trump administrations’ climate laws rollback which, in climate change time, is pretty significant. The United States has a high opportunity to distribute renewable energy like we do fossil fuels, which tells us now should be the time to transition into clean energy. While we know that we need more land and space for renewables, there are also plenty of solutions to this problem: i.e. rooftop solar, wind farms that can be built on water, converting fossil fuel energy plants into hydrogen-power plants.