Have Renewables Escaped Containtment?

 Krugman looks at the economic reasons why renewables have exploded in the last 15 years. It's obviously clear that the Trump Administration is waging a mostly pointless, pique-filled war against solar and wind, for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Sure, there are the arguments that this is just naked corruption by making coal mines more profitable for the next few years. That's normally a strong argument with these mooks. The other argument is that this is just Cleek's Law at work. Democrats support renewables, so Republicans must oppose them. There's also the argument that Trump has a stick up his diapered ass because he doesn't like the way windmills look from his Scottish golf course.

It still doesn't add up.

Renewables are an absolute economic positive in multiple ways. There's the obvious climate change mitigation, but renewables are cheaper in the long run than hydrocarbons. Once you build a renewable facility, that cost is largely "it."  You don't have to pay fuel costs.

Trump and Republicans have stripped out tax credits for solar, even on residential buildings. We are currently building our retirement home, and we want to get solar on the roof, but we won't be able to before January 1st, when the tax credits expire because of the OBBB.

At the same time, the cost of electricity is spiking, almost entirely from AI data centers. Yes, it will be more expensive to put PV panels on our roof in 2026 than it would have been in 2025, but we can budget around that, especially since otherwise our long term electrical bills would be a real burden.  I'm even looking into residential wind - it's not supposed to be great, but it's really cheap, about $3000 for a 5000 watt turbine. We will need a battery, and those credit, too, are expiring. 

This is among the thousands of outrages committed by the Trump administration against American citizens and their economic interest. 

I do wonder, though, how much renewables will continue to grow simply because they are so economically efficient now. It made sense and was necessary to subsidize renewables a decade ago or even five years ago. While it still makes sense to do so today, I wonder if it's economically necessary.

In the long run, the real issue is climate change, and it's heartening that other countries are picking up some of the slack. If Americans aren't going to be buying solar and wind and batteries, other countries will. It will make us poorer, it's stupid and it's shortsighted, but I don't think it's reversible.