Q&A: 100% carbon-free electricity in 10 years



Why is Former Vice President Al Gore calling for 100% renewable and clean energy electricity within a decade?

  • We are facing three problems in the US that can be addressed together with clean energy -- economic woes, national security, and the climate crisis.
  • The time to do something is right now -- our planet requires we act right away, the economy will benefit from it immediately, and our national security demands it.

What does 100% renewable and clean energy electricity look like?

  • The Vice President is offering a challenge, not a prescription, to develop a safe, reliable, efficient and clean electricity system within a decade.
  • When we use the microwave or plug in a coffee maker, our electricity system will function just like it does today, but behind the scenes, it will look and function quite differently and much cleaner.
  • The US will be able to reduce our demand, as much as 30% through efficiency.
  • We can have a unified national grid that cost-effectively and reliably moves electricity around the country from our energy sources to our energy users at the moment it's needed.
  • The electricity system can be a mix of carbon-free baseload and distpatchable sources like solar thermal with storage, geothermal, wind, solar photovoltaics, biomass, existing nuclear and hydropower, and coal and natural gas power if they are able to capture the carbon.
  • As soon as today, we can begin calling on our leaders to put the policies in place that will help our businesses, engineers, investors, and utilities to begin ramping up manufacturing and installation of clean energy systems to meet the challenge.

How much will it cost to transition to 100% renewable and clean energy in a decade?

  • This will be a one-off investment to replace an electricity grid that mainly relies on expensive and dirty old fossil fuels with one that relies more on free and clean fuels.
  • Over the typical 30-year lifetime of a clean power plant, we will save so much in fuel costs that it will make up for the capital investment.
  • With energy efficiency, we'll be able to reduce the number of new power plants we have to build and also avoid the high costs of building more dirty coal power plants planned today.
  • And let's compare it to other costs. What gives us any confidence that other fuels will be cheaper? Or that other capital costs won't keep rising like they have with conventional power plants recently? The prices of oil and gas have proven to be extremely volatile. Even the price of our own US coal has spiked with global demand. 

How will we pay for the new energy economy?

  • The vast majority of funding for new power plants will come from private capital.
  • With Americans coming together to embrace policies for a smarter energy future, we will change what investors see as the safest or best investments. And when rules are in place to reward reducing pollution, private capital will flow towards that safe haven.
  • The government will likely continue to play a role in early stage R&D, infrastructure, public transportation, and jump-starting energy efficiency programs.

How will this help gasoline prices?

  • There are no quick fixes to the problem of rising gasoline prices. Drilling more will not impact gas prices for years, and will keep us tied to old, dirty fossil fuel technologies - when we can instead move toward an energy system that uses less oil. If we begin planning and building now for a future less reliant on oil, it could help our prices today and will reduce the amount American families spend on gasoline in the future.
  • What this challenge offers is -- finally -- real stability.

How will it change household electricity bills?

  • Energy efficiency improvements with today's technologies will save money on household and business's utility bills immediately.
  • The cost of fossil fuels has been rising, which means electricity bills in our old system will rise too. Instead, the challenge calls for more reliance on free fuels like the sun and wind, and since many renewables continue to achieve cost improvements, these clean technologies are price competitive. 
  • We will need to look out for lower-income and middle-income families to ensure they have reasonable energy costs.

What are the job opportunities?

  • Millions of new jobs will be available in a variety of sectors, from manufacturing efficient appliances, to installing solar panels, to engineering design of energy storage systems.
  • To be fair, as we shift from old energy industries to new ones, we will need to address the future of workers, families, and communities that are most impacted, in part by developing plans to establish new industries and jobs in those communities.

Is this going to be a safe and reliable system?

  • A new electricity system will rely on a mix of different technologies with different strengths across the nation. We'll also have a smart unified national grid that can move energy around to wherever it's needed when it's needed.

Can it be done this quickly?

  • It's ambitious but achievable. And America has risen to these types of challenges before.
  • There are no technological or materials constraints that would stop this.
  • This, really, is a political and cultural challenge. We can do this quickly if all Americans -- every single one of us -- embrace this and insist on it. Every scientist, every teacher, every investor, every family -- there is a role for each of us.

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Al Gore’s Challenge