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CLIMATE WATCH -
“We can have a world that runs on a resource that’s available to everyone everywhere.” (Bill McKibben)
There’s a renaissance of nature powering the world, and it’s happening throughout the planet hidden from public view because it’s everywhere all at once and not in one isolated location easily identified. It’s solar panel installations experiencing smashing success everywhere throughout the world. Solar panels are consuming the world faster than public media has caught up with the trend to broadcast the good news. People simply aren’t aware of this ongoing miracle.
Nobody knows this better than Bill McKibben, author, activist, educator, and leader of 350.org. He’s a brilliant environmental activist who has dedicated his life to a better world. His newest book Here Comes the Sun (W.W. Norton & Company) is all about a better world.
McKibben was recently interviewed by Chris Hayes of MSNBC fame: The Chris Hayes Podcast - Why is This Happening? McKibben’s new book and much more was discussed on Chri Hayes’ podcast on YouTube. The interview is an optimistic take on the future of planet Earth because of rapid advancement of renewable energy.
This article is based upon the McKibben interview.
Accordingly, “It’s the rest of the world outside of America that’s really catching on.” Even though the climate situation is in dire straits today, there is a ray of hope in the midst of our troubled planet, an explosion of renewable energy the past 36 months that’s truly amazing, an eyeopener, happening fast!
Renewable energy has been labeled “alternative energy” for 40 years, and as such, pigeonholed as an alternative or second fiddle. For decades now this frame of mind has downplayed its importance. That stigma is about to be lifted in the face of a big bright new world lighted and powered by the Sun. “It’s the largest nuclear reactor in the solar system, and we have immediate access to it.”
For example, amazing things are happening: This Spring 2025 China was putting up three (3) gigawatts of solar power every day. One gigawatt is equivalent to one coal-powered plant. So, they were essentially installing three coal-powered plants per day.
Equally impressive, over the past 15 months California produced renewable energy for long stretches every day and at times producing more than 100% of the power it needs with renewables. At night, California switches to batteries that spent the day soaking up sunshine. That all-important battery auxiliary power source did not exist three years ago. Overall, as of 2025 California has cut the state’s natural gas bill by 40% from two years ago.
And Texas, the headquarters for the oil and gas industry, is challenging California. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), as of early 2025, Texas has over 22 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity. That’s enough to power more than 3.5 million homes with clean energy. It is now second in national solar rankings. EVs have increased by 3900% since 2014. Wind energy is up three-fold since 2014. Renewables are hot items in Texas, displacing oil and gas like hot cakes. Do Texas Republicans agree with Trump that climate change is a hoax? Ask them!
Elsewhere in the sane world, in Pakistan ordinary people have taken matters into their own hands, putting up rooftop solar power on individual homes now equal to one-half of the country’s electric grid. The biggest solar adopters are farmers, using solar to replace diesel fuel to power field generators for water irrigation. As a result, Pakistan used 35% less diesel fuel last year than the year before.
In Africa mini grids powered by solar are popping up all over the continent.
A couple of weeks ago Indonesia, the fourth most populated country, committed to build 100 gigawatts of solar power over the next decade.
In part, all of this is happening because five years ago an invisible line was passed when it became cheaper to produce energy from the Sun and wind rather than burning fossil fuels that emit CO2 by the bucketful. Still, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, for the year 2024, fossil fuels still supply about 80% of the world’s energy as renewable installations simply meet additional demand.
According to McKibben, “All of this is happening at exactly the same time as the climate is spiraling out of control.” June 2023 is the key month, almost every month since has set a new record for heat. Coincidentally June 2023 is also when humans started installing one gigawatt of solar per day around the planet. Now, we are in a race against time to see who wins because major systems of the planet are just beginning to unravel, e.g., the jet stream has become so skewed that it’s like spaghetti. It has profound influence on weather patterns for the entire hemisphere, and it’s one reason for whacky weather that’s literally destroying property.
According to McKibben, solar is a mighty force not to be reckoned with. For example, imagine for a moment there’s a ship carrying solar panels across the ocean. Compare that ship full of solar panels to a ship carrying coal across the ocean. Over a lifetime the solar panels will produce 500 times more energy than the same ship containing coal.
Here's another example by McKibben, regarding the muscle of solar: He met a farmer in Illinois who grows corn for ethanol. He said one acre worth of corn would power his Ford F150 for 25,000 miles for one year. But if he covers the same one acre with solar panels it’ll produce enough electrons to run his Ford F150 Lightening EV 700,000 miles.
EVs and auxiliary batteries for power grids are about to get better, more powerful, and safer. Sodium ion batteries for EVs are the new trend in China. This is one more major advancement. Sodium-ion batteries charge faster than lithium-ion and have a three times higher lifecycle
Meanwhile, archaic America is focusing on old-fashioned, awkward oil and gas drilling while denigrating and dissembling modern renewable policies as quickly as possible and literally decimating science and destroying important science data as well as key data sources. This is truly a tragedy. America is a prime example of the doing the opposite of China’s modernization campaign that embraces science along with renewables.
In July Al Gore gave a TED speech wherein he mentioned the solar miracle taking place in China: He noted positives in the alternatives space. For example, the costs for renewables have plummeted to levels making fossil fuels unproductive in comparison. Exxon’s own prediction that solar capacity would only achieve 850GW by 2040 was dead wrong; as of year-end 2024, it is already at 2,280 GW, nearly triple the Exxon projection for 2040. Solar is now the least expensive source of electricity in human history. Since the Paris Agreement, solar electricity generation has soared by 732%. And electric vehicle sales have increased 34x since 2015.
According to Gore, in April 2025 China installed 45 gigawatts of new solar capacity. This is equivalent to 45 brand new giant nuclear reactors installed in one month.
An accelerating renewables revolution is underway throughout the world. Still, both McKibben and Gore mention the sorrowful fact that Earth’s systems are stressed like never before, and it’ll take a herculean effort to steady-the-ship-of-state. Too much time has passed with too little work to get off fossil fuels. Thank goodness solar is on the march in a very big way. But will it be fast enough, soon enough?
(Robert Hunziker, M.A. in Economic History from DePaul University and a member of Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society, is a freelance writer and environmental journalist. With over 200 published articles featured in more than 50 international journals, magazines, and online platforms, his work focuses on climate change, sustainability, and global ecological issues. Hunziker is a regular contributor to CityWatchLA, where he brings a global perspective to urgent environmental challenges facing Los Angeles and beyond.)
