Leah Stokes wrote "Trump can't stop America's shift to clean energy. And we can accelerate it." in Live Science on Sept. 30, arguing that "over 90% of new renewable projects are now cheaper than new fossil fuels" and that 93% of new U.S. power capacity this year will be clean.
The piece grounds the clean energy transition in procurement economics rather than policy. Stokes writes that solar paired with batteries is now cheaper to build and run than a new gas plant, even without subsidies, and that the solar industry tripled its annual build rate in just six years. Coal plants face similar economics: 99% of American coal plants are more expensive to keep open than it would cost to replace them with new solar, wind and storage.
The article addresses two common objections to accelerating the transition: rising electricity demand from AI and data centers, and federal policy uncertainty. Stokes argues that new solar plants and batteries can go up in under two years, compared to supply backlogs on gas turbines that stretch toward the 2030s. She also outlines state and local strategies to speed adoption, including plug-in solar (legalized in Utah last year and approved by California's legislature), electric water heaters as thermal batteries, and building codes that make flexible electric machines the default replacement.
The piece was picked up across energy and climate aggregators within a day of publication.
Leah Stokes is the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where her research shows that electrification can cut 75% of carbon emissions while saving lives, strengthening the economy and increasing grid resilience. She is the author of Short Circuiting Policy (2020), named Best Energy Book of 2020 by the American Energy Society and listed among the top five climate books of 2020 by The New York Times, and co-hosts the climate podcast A Matter of Degrees, which has more than 700,000 downloads. Named to the 2022 TIME100 Next list, she has testified before the U.S. Congress on clean energy and electrification.
Leah Stokes is exclusively represented by Stellant Group for speaking engagements including keynotes, fireside chats and panel discussions with leadership teams thinking through energy procurement, grid decarbonization and the economics of the clean energy transition. For our consulting or advisory offerings, please reach out for a custom proposal.
