America's Drastic Shift: What Are the Paths for Energy and Climate?

America’s Drastic Shift: What Are the Paths for Energy and Climate?

On this week’s Energy Gang episode: What happens next in Congress?

Stephen Lacey January 08, 2021

Stephen Lacey

Contributing Editor
Greentech Media

Stephen Lacey is a contributing editor with Greentech Media. He is also the founder and executive producer of Post Script Media. Lacey produces and hosts The Energy Gang and Interchange podcasts, two of the most popular podcasts on energy and cleantech.

In the final moments of 2020, the most important U.S. energy legislation passed in a decade flew in under the radar, attached to the coronavirus relief and government funding bill.

It’s an astonishing collection of measures. It sets aside $35 billion in new funding for clean energy R&D, phases out some of the most egregious greenhouse gases and extends tax credits for wind, solar, nuclear and carbon capture. What’s the impact?

A bill this big would alone have merited an entire episode of dedicated discussion. But it’s been eclipsed by the possibility of more ambitious legislation under a Democrat-controlled Congress, thanks to some big Senate wins in Georgia on Wednesday.

With a window of action open, how much can get done in the next two years? We’ll dig in.

Lastly, we turn to one of the biggest business stories from the last year: Tesla. A stratospheric stock price, strong sales growth and the second-richest man in the world. What do Elon Musk’s fortunes foreshadow for EVs?