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    Biden wins US election, great news for renewable energy and electric vehicles

    This morning Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on winning the US election. While Trump may be contesting the result, it’s pretty clear to most, he lost this time.

    So with Biden headed to the top job, its worth taking a look at the policies he’ll try to implement when in power.

    One of Biden’s key election promises relates to a clean energy future for the US. This includes a commitment to put the US on an irreversible path to net-zero emissions by 2050.

    While 30 years may seem far away, if you’re an energy provider considering future investments, particularly in coal-fired power stations, you’ll likely start to make different investment decisions as a result of what happens in the next 4 years.

    Biden promotes this as an opportunity to create new, cleaner jobs. Biden says one of the very first things he will do is re-commit the US to the Paris agreement, something Australia is still a signatory to. In videos released during the election, Biden is actually pushing for even more aggressive targets than what much of the world agreed to in Paris.

    Front-loaded investments in the power sector, will cut electricity bills and cut electricity pollution, with the aim of achieving carbon-pollution free energy in electricity generation by 2035.

    While the energy sector is certainly one of the largest contributors to CO2 emissions, transport and agriculture also account for large percentages.

    The ambitious page is worth US$2 Trillion and includes many components:

    • Infrastructure: Create millions of good, union jobs rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure – from roads and bridges to green spaces and water systems to electricity grids and universal broadband – to lay a new foundation for sustainable growth, compete in the global economy, withstand the impacts of climate change, and improve public health, including access to clean air and clean water.
    • Auto Industry: Create 1 million new jobs in the American auto industry, domestic auto supply chains, and auto infrastructure, from parts to materials to electric vehicle charging stations, positioning American auto workers and manufacturers to win the 21st century; and invest in U.S. auto workers to ensure their jobs are good jobs with a choice to join a union.
    • Transit: Provide every American city with 100,000 or more residents with high-quality, zero-emissions public transportation options through flexible federal investments with strong labor protections that create good, union jobs and meet the needs of these cities – ranging from light rail networks to improving existing transit and bus lines to installing infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists.
    • Power Sector: Move ambitiously to generate clean, American-made electricity to achieve a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. This will enable us to meet the existential threat of climate change while creating millions of jobs with a choice to join a union.
    • Buildings: Upgrade 4 million buildings and weatherize 2 million homes over 4 years, creating at least 1 million good-paying jobs with a choice to join a union; and also spur the building retrofit and efficient-appliance manufacturing supply chain by funding direct cash rebates and low-cost financing to upgrade and electrify home appliances and install more efficient windows, which will cut residential energy bills.
    • Housing: Spur the construction of 1.5 million sustainable homes and housing units.
    • Innovation: Drive dramatic cost reductions in critical clean energy technologies, including battery storage, negative emissions technologies, the next generation of building materials, renewable hydrogen, and advanced nuclear – and rapidly commercialize them, ensuring that those new technologies are made in America.
    • Agriculture and Conservation: Create jobs in climate-smart agriculture, resilience, and conservation, including 250,000 jobs plugging abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reclaiming abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines – providing good work with a choice to join or continue membership in a union in hard hit communities, including rural communities, reducing leakage of toxics, and preventing local environmental damage.

    You can read more at https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/

    Jason Cartwright
    Jason Cartwrighthttps://techau.com.au/author/jason/
    Creator of techAU, Jason has spent the dozen+ years covering technology in Australia and around the world. Bringing a background in multimedia and passion for technology to the job, Cartwright delivers detailed product reviews, event coverage and industry news on a daily basis. Disclaimer: Tesla Shareholder from 20/01/2021

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