Democrats Get Stuff Finished — Vote Properly!

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… And They’re USA’s Solely Hope For Competing With China

There’s little doubt about it — China is totally demolishing the US on the clear expertise financial system, and the world is a clear expertise financial system increasingly more each day and might be for many years to come back. China has sturdy, guided, clear pro-cleantech coverage, and it now dominates photo voltaic panel manufacturing, electrical car manufacturing and gross sales, EV battery manufacturing, and extra. Europe is doing fairly alright itself within the EV realm because of sturdy insurance policies requiring that automakers minimize their fleets’ CO2 emissions increasingly more. The US is cut up in half on cleantech insurance policies, and we’re thus properly behind China and Europe.

Previously 47 years, Democratic presidents have constantly supported cleantech, whereas Republican presidents have constantly opposed it. Jimmy Carter put photo voltaic panels on the White Home, amongst different issues. George Bush (the first) took these photo voltaic panels down, amongst different issues. Fossil gasoline industries closely swayed to the GOP facet of the aisle — being essentially the most unbalanced trade within the nation by way of political donations. Previously couple of many years, President Obama stimulated huge investments in renewable vitality, electrical automobiles, and vitality effectivity, significantly by way of the American Restoration and Reinvestment Act. Right here’s a snippet from that linked reality sheet:

“By the American Restoration and Reinvestment Act (Restoration Act), President Obama made the most important single funding in clear vitality in historical past, offering greater than $90 billion in strategic clear vitality investments and tax incentives to advertise job creation and the deployment of low-carbon applied sciences, and leveraging roughly $150 billion in non-public and different non-federal capital for clear vitality investments.

“Clear vitality investments made up over one eighth of whole Restoration Act spending and supplied a significant increase to financial output. A brand new report launched right this moment by the White Home Council of Financial Advisors (CEA) estimates that your complete Restoration Act raised the extent of GDP by between 2 and three p.c from late 2009 by way of mid-2011. Along with offering a stimulus, the funding helped deal with market failures in clear vitality markets. The funding reached practically each facet of the worth chain for quite a few key clear vitality applied sciences, together with superior automobiles, batteries, carbon seize and sequestration, and applied sciences to boost vitality effectivity. These investments had been a down fee towards an progressive sustainable twenty first century clear financial system and helped the nation take a big step ahead to lowering fossil gasoline consumption and lowering carbon air pollution.

“These investments remodeled America’s clear vitality financial system by:

• • Supporting Job Creation: In a brand new report launched right this moment, CEA estimates that the Restoration Act clear energy-related applications supported roughly 900,000 job-years in progressive clear vitality fields from 2009 to 2015. In reality, the Restoration Act supplied funding for 180 superior vitality manufacturing tasks, together with Saft America in Jacksonville Florida the place the President is visiting tomorrow, bringing direct and oblique jobs to communities throughout the nation.
  • Scaling up Renewable Power Technology: By mortgage ensures to help greater than $40 billion of funding in addition to tax credit, the Restoration Act spurred a significant enlargement of renewable vitality era by way of greater than 100,000 tasks throughout the nation, together with one of many world’s largest wind farms and the primary massive scale photo voltaic tasks. These investments have helped result in dramatic will increase in renewable vitality era and decreased carbon air pollution. Since 2008, photo voltaic electrical energy era has elevated over 30 occasions and wind era has elevated over 3 times. In reality, renewable vitality accounted for greater than half of latest put in energy sector capability in 2015.
  • Lowering Prices: The Restoration Act funding supported a plunge in expertise prices for a lot of clear vitality applied sciences, making them much more aggressive towards fossil gasoline era. Since 2008, the price of utility-scale photo voltaic PV installations has fallen practically 60 p.c. In reality, photo voltaic is presently at grid parity in 20 U.S. states and 42 states are anticipated to achieve that milestone by 2020 beneath business-as-usual situations. Battery prices for electrical automobiles have fallen from nearly $1,000/kWh in 2008 to beneath $300/kWh in 2014. The associated fee reductions for these and different applied sciences resulted from a variety of components—together with economies of scale, expertise studying, and new enterprise practices—that had been assisted by the widespread deployment made attainable by way of the Restoration Act.
  • Driving Innovation: The Restoration Act supplied the seed funding wanted to begin the Division of Power’s Superior Analysis Initiatives Company-Power (ARPA-E) program. As we speak, the Administration is asserting that this system has invested in 475 transformative vitality applied sciences and its tasks have secured $1.25 billion in non-public sector follow-on funding. ARPA-E can be asserting as much as $30 million in funding for a brand new program referred to as Integration and Optimization of Novel Ion Conducting Solids (IONICS) that seeks to create progressive parts for the following era of batteries, gasoline cells, and different electrochemical gadgets.
  • Bettering Power Effectivity: The Restoration Act funding for Division of Power’s Weatherization Help Program improved the vitality effectivity of low-income residences by weatherizing multiple million houses. On common, these enhancements are saving households greater than $3,000 on their heating and cooling payments over the lifetime of measures put in.
  • Selling Grid Modernization: Restoration Act funding for the Good Grid Funding Program helped to help the set up of 16 million good meters by 2016. Good meter tasks across the nation will help customers perceive their vitality use and pricing, serving to to facilitate the transition to a extra resilient electrical grid infrastructure.
  • Growing Superior Automobile and Fuels Applied sciences: Gasoline environment friendly car selections for customers have elevated dramatically due partially to the Restoration Act. When the Restoration Act was signed into regulation, there have been only a few electrical car choices out there to customers and a restricted variety of hybrids. Now we now have an enormous set of choices for customers to select from with extra fashions to come back. As we speak, 16 producers supply 28 electrical car fashions, presenting customers with actual selections as they appear to undertake new expertise, enhancing the aggressive place of U.S. trade, driving job creation by way of American innovation, and rising the variety of plug-in electrical automobiles on U.S. roads to 400,000 on the finish of 2015. Restoration Act investments have additionally supported public transit by way of the acquisition of 12,000 buses, vans, and rail automobiles and the development or renovation of over 850 transit services.
  • Stimulating the Progress of Power Storage: Whereas the deployment of renewable vitality like wind and photo voltaic continues to speed up, thereby lowering the usage of carbon-intensive fossil fuels, it’s crucial that we now have storage capabilities to efficiently combine new energy sources into the electrical grid. Due partially to investments made in the course of the Restoration Act, we’ve made a number of progress. In keeping with a brand new report that might be launched subsequent week, the quantity of battery storage elevated by 500 p.c from 2012 to 2015. And this occurred whereas, in line with exterior analysts, the common lithium-ion battery value fell 53 p.c between 2012 and 2015, and by 2019 costs are forecast to say no by half once more. As extra renewable vitality comes on-line, we count on the quantity wanted for storage to speed up considerably. Exterior analysts have projected that storage installations within the US over the following 4 years will whole practically 10 occasions what’s presently deployed. These estimates may very well be even larger because of the extensions of the renewable vitality tax credit.”

Shifting on to Trump, properly, he received nearly nothing performed. Not simply regarding cleantech, however regarding something. The one important laws he received handed was huge tax cuts for the tremendous wealthy and firms. This spiked the US deficit whereas not doing something for many People. Firms, which many warned would use the cash for inventory buybacks, used the cash for inventory buybacks. Unsurprisingly, the tax cuts have in no way led to the financial advantages that had been promised. It was a con, however what else are you able to count on from a profession con man?

Joe Biden turned president and surpassed Obama by passing the strongest, greatest cleantech and local weather answer legal guidelines in US historical past, through the Inflation Discount Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation. These have stimulated huge investments in photo voltaic expertise manufacturing, EV battery manufacturing, EV manufacturing and gross sales, EV battery cell manufacturing, EV battery mineral mining and refining, and far, rather more.

These huge accomplishments are reviving and stimulating blue-collar and high-paying manufacturing jobs within the nation — one thing the nation has been shedding for many years. They’ve additionally pumped cash into crucial infrastructure tasks, together with EV charging infrastructure.

The Biden–Harris administration additionally introduced down costs of necessary medicines, like insulin, and compelled rather more aggressive and inexpensive pricing for pharmaceuticals by giving Medicare the facility of negotiation. Okay, we’re moving into non-cleantech territories, however the level is obvious — Democrats get stuff performed for regular People. They work to create a greater financial system for the lots, not only for the tremendous rich. They really cross legal guidelines that make the nation extra aggressive and that decrease prices for many People.

By way of the industries of the long run, Democrats are the nation’s solely hope on the federal stage for persevering with to protect and advance insurance policies that make us extra aggressive with China. Some folks speak an enormous speak after which do nothing. Others are doers and really make issues occur. By way of national-level US insurance policies, just one celebration has been on the market doing issues for regular People in recent times. In case you haven’t performed so but (and also you’re American), vote properly tomorrow (November 5). Let’s make the approaching years affluent and optimistic.