Debunking 5 myths about renewable energy

Credit: Yale
Credit: Yale

Myth #1 Renewable energy is unreliable.

There will always be days when clouds cover the sun or the wind is still. … “There’s always a way to coordinate the energy mix” to keep the lights on, [says Andy Fitch, an attorney at Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law].

Myth #2 Rooftop solar is super pricey.

Back in 1980, solar panels cost a whopping $35 (in today’s dollars) per watt of generated energy. In 2024 that figure fell to 26 cents.

Myth #3 Wind power inevitably kills wildlife

[Wildlife deaths] “pale in comparison to what climate change is doing to habitat,” says Douglas Nowacek, a conservation technology expert at Duke University. 

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Myth #4 Electric cars can’t go far without recharging.

Today, some 50 models can go more than 300 miles, with some topping 500.

Myth #5 Renewables are on track to solve the climate crisis.

To sufficiently slow climate warming, experts say wind generation must more than quadruple its current pace by 2030 …. Yet while global investments for renewable energy rose 10 percent in the first half of last year, it fell by more than a third in the U.S.

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