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For Immediate Release
June, 03 2021, 08:44am EDT
Contact:
Emma Searson, 100% Renewable Campaign Director, 828-545-7300, esearson@environmentamerica.org
Josh Chetwynd, Communications Manager, 303-573-5558, josh.chetwynd@publicinterestnetwork.org
New Report: America Is on the Verge of a Renewable Future
Analysis identifies four key areas for transitioning to clean and renewable resources.
WASHINGTON
America has the capacity to build an energy system around clean, renewable resources, according to a new report released Thursday by Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. The study, We Have the Power: Reaching America's potential for clean, renewable energy, finds that America has abundant renewable resources to meet all of its energy needs.
"To a visitor from an earlier century, America in 2021 would be unimaginably advanced in all ways but one: We still rely on dirty and dangerous fossil fuels to meet our energy needs," said Susan Rakov, chair of Environment America Research and Policy Center's Clean Energy program. "But it doesn't have to be that way. This report shows that between the sunshine and the wind, we have the potential to run our society on clean energy, today and in the future."
The report found that U.S. solar energy resources have the technical potential to meet America's 2020 electricity demand more than 77 times over, and U.S. onshore and offshore wind resources could meet America's 2020 demand 11 times over. In addition, all 50 states have sufficient solar or wind potential to meet current electricity needs, and 49 have enough to do so under a 2050 scenario in which energy uses like transportation and buildings run on electricity.
Along with describing renewable potential, the authors highlight the broad agreement among researchers that an energy system powered by renewable sources is within reach. This analysis adds to that body of research by identifying four key strategies that will be essential to transforming the nation's energy system: building out renewable energy; modernizing the grid; reducing and managing energy use; and replacing direct uses of fossil fuels with electricity to take advantage of clean technologies. The paper points to encouraging trends in technology, prices and adoption that suggest progress in each of the four areas can be further accelerated in the years to come.
"How quickly America shifts toward wind and solar will be decided by how and when we lean into fully erecting the four pillars outlined in this report," said Emma Searson, 100% Renewable campaign director at Environment America Research & Policy Center. "Given the remarkable technological advances and progress we've made so far, we should feel confident in our ability to build each and every one of them."
The report calls on policymakers at the local, state and federal levels to set ambitious goals for the transition to clean, renewable energy, as well as provide the support needed to ensure clean energy can actually deliver on those goals.
"We know the steps we need to take to ensure a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable future," Searson said. "But this race won't run itself -- our leaders need to set up some mile markers, lace up their sneakers and start running so that America is in position to tap the abundant renewable resources at our fingertips."
With Environment America, you protect the places that all of us love and promote core environmental values, such as clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean energy to power our lives. We're a national network of 29 state environmental groups with members and supporters in every state. Together, we focus on timely, targeted action that wins tangible improvements in the quality of our environment and our lives.
(303) 801-0581LATEST NEWS
Unlawful US Attack, Says Cuban President, 'Would Trigger a Bloodbath With Incalculable Consequences'
"Cuba, which already endures a multidimensional aggression from the US, does have the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught," said President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
May 18, 2026
As the Trump administration seeks to justify a war with Cuba using what Cuban officials have called “increasingly implausible accusations” that it poses a danger to national security, President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on Monday that an American assault would trigger a "bloodbath with incalculable consequences."
US President Donald Trump has imposed a punishing fuel blockade on Cuba for months that has devastated the island's civilian population with the explicit goal of forcing its government from power and has, on many occasions, threatened to use military force, including to outright "take" the island.
The densely populated island of nearly 11 million people is already in the midst of a humanitarian crisis as a result of "energy starvation" from the blockade, which has left the country's renowned healthcare system struggling to function, with 100,000 patients awaiting surgery, according to a recent United Nations report.
"The threats of military aggression against Cuba from the world's greatest power are well-known," Díaz-Canel said in a post to social media on Monday. "The threat itself already constitutes an international crime. If it were to materialize, it would trigger a bloodbath with incalculable consequences, plus the destructive impact on regional peace and stability."
His comments came after Axios reported Sunday on "classified intelligence" shared by unnamed senior US officials stating that Cuba possesses around 300 drones acquired from Russia and Iran and had been considering plans to attack the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, various US military vessels, and Key West, Florida.
Reporter Marc Caputo described the intelligence as a possible "pretext for US military action" against the island and quoted an unnamed senior official as saying it was "a growing threat."
Republican legislators, particularly those in South Florida, have seized on the report to argue for even harsher action against Cuba. US Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart and Elvira Salazar both said it was further evidence that Cuba poses a "threat to national security." Rep. Carlos Gimenez said it must be "dealt with accordingly."
However, buried deep within the report was the acknowledgment that "US officials don't believe Cuba is an imminent threat, or actively planning to attack American interests." Rather, the drones would be reserved for a scenario in which "hostilities erupt" in the event of a US military attack, which has been telegraphed for weeks by the Trump administration.
Cuba has not denied having drones, with its embassy saying on Sunday that it "has the right to defend itself against external aggression." But Cuba denied any intent to attack the US preemptively, saying that US officials were "distorting as extraordinary the logical preparation required to face a potential aggression."
Díaz-Canel reiterated on Monday that Cuba "poses no threat, nor does it have aggressive plans or intentions against any country."
"It has none against the US, nor has it ever had any—something the government of that nation knows full well, particularly its defense and national security agencies," the Cuban president continued.
"Cuba, which already endures a multidimensional aggression from the US, does have the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught," he added. "Yet that cannot be wielded, either logically or honestly, as an excuse for imposing war on the noble Cuban people."
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As Israel attempts to discredit New York Times reporting published last week that detailed systematic sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli forces, the United Nations Human Rights Office over the weekend called for an independent probe into what a spokesperson characterized as well-documented mistreatment.
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Al-Kheetan added that the human rights office had confirmed the deaths of at least 90 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023, including a 17-year-old who showed signs of starvation at the time of death.
Israel has announced that it will sue the Times for the report by opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof, which included testimony from 14 Palestinians who said they faced sexual assaults in Israeli custody or during attacks by the Israeli military or settlers. Threatening legal action, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government officials described the reporting as “blood libel.”
But Al-Kheetan said the OHCHR had “systematically documented the practice of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual and gender-based violence, against Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons."
Reports from other human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Israeli group B'Tselem, have included similar testimonies in which Palestinian former detainees say they've experienced or witnessed sexual violence while in custody.
Al-Kheetan added that it was part of a “flawed Israeli detention and justice system,” which includes arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and violations of international law. "This system must end, and Israel, as an occupying power, must respect international human rights law and its obligations," he said.
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IEA executive director Faith Birol told reporters in Paris that the world only has weeks' worth of oil reserves left, raising the likelihood that energy prices will soar even higher in the near future.
Birol said that oil inventories are "declining rapidly" and added that there was "a perception gap in the markets between the physical markets and the financial markets," as the price of oil in futures markets has not yet risen to a level that accurately reflects the coming supply crunch.
In his remarks to the press, given on the sidelines of a G7 gathering taking place this week in France, Birol warned that it's only a matter of time before the supply shortage of fertilizer, which was also caused by the Iran War, leads to a surge in food prices that "might give a big push to inflation numbers."
The Financial Times reported on Sunday that energy markets are approaching a "tipping point" where prices could see another upward surge that would throw the global economy into a recession.
Paul Diggle, chief economist at fund manager Aberdeen, told The Financial Times that he has been modeling the economic impact of oil hitting $180 per barrel, which he said would set off a global inflation crisis.
“We are taking that outcome very seriously,” Diggle said. “We are living on borrowed time."
Oil prices briefly fell last month after the US and Iran announced a ceasefire agreement. However, the Strait of Hormuz has remained closed throughout that period, and Trump is reportedly preparing to restart attacks on Iran in the near future if no deal to reopen the strait is reached.
In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump again threatened Iran with destruction unless it agrees to his demands.
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