Saner Heads Will Likely Prevail

A🧡374-word💚2-minute💙read

A little over a week ago I published a post titled: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 that summarized pending Texas legislation that would greatly hinder future installations of clean energy technology. Given Texas has become the leading state in utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage, the Republican-led legislation seemed like a classic case of shooting oneself in the foot.

I’m happy to report that the chances of that legislation becoming law is somewhere between slim and none. I’m also happy to report that a recent poll conducted by 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 offers hope that the political polarization associated with clean energy can be overcome.

What will it take to return the issue to bipartisanship?

🅼🅾🅽🅴🆈.

Renewables have become big business in Texas, and financially beneficial to landowners.

The Texas poll should be a wakeup call to the climate movement. It needs to focus less on “there’s a climate crisis” and focus more on the economic benefits of clean energy technology. Texas serves as an example with a caveat: the Texas example isn’t necessarily duplicable everywhere, so the message has to be customized based on geography.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙡𝙡:

Note: The poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters in late March and has a margin of error of 4%.

▶ 91% of Texans “strongly supported” landowners’ ability to lease their land for wind and solar.

▶ 75% of Republicans, and 90% of independents favored “government action to accelerate clean energy.”

▶ Even 56% of self-described “very conservative” Texans expressed support for renewables, up from 49% in the 2023 survey.

▶ More than three-quarters of men without a college degree support renewables, up from less than two-thirds in 2023.

▶ Only 45% of Texans want to see more gas resources developed.

As I said, to a degree Texas is a unique situation. It is a favorable environment for both solar and wind, and has an abundance of flat land. And where solar and wind proliferate, battery storage must follow.

Nonetheless, Texas does illustrate that’s there no reason why clean energy should have become a partisan issue. For that, the responsibility lies in something I’ve written extensively about: the poor messaging strategy executed by the climate movement.

#renewables #cleanenergy #solarenergy #windenergy #windpower #texasenergy #netzero