STUDIES AGREE 80 PERCENT CLEAN ELECTRICITY BY 2030 WOULD SAVE LIVES AND CREATE JOBS AT MINIMAL COST

The report analyzes 11 recent studies, concluding that a transition to 80% clean electricity by 2030 in the U.S. is feasible, affordable, and critical for meeting national climate goals. Key findings indicate that such a transition would be driven primarily by wind, solar, and battery storage, resulting in significant job growth, reduced premature deaths, and substantial avoided health and climate damages, with minimal impact on consumer electricity bills.

• Achieving approximately 80 percent clean electricity by 2030 is considered affordable, with wholesale electricity costs projected to range from 4 percent lower to 3 percent higher than current prices. Other studies indicate retail electricity bills would increase by less than 4 percent by 2030.
• Ambitious clean electricity policies are projected to create a net increase of 500,000 to 1 million new jobs annually and attract hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars in new clean energy investment.
• Reaching roughly 70 to 80 percent clean electricity is identified as foundational for the U.S. to meet the Biden administration's target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
• Strong federal clean electricity policies could avoid 14,500 to 50,000 premature deaths by 2030 or 2035, and 85,000 to 317,000 by 2050. These policies would avoid combined health and climate damages ranging from $150 billion to $705 billion through 2030/2035 and $1 trillion to $3 trillion by 2050.
• The most cost-effective path to high clean electricity penetration relies almost exclusively on new wind, solar, and battery storage. Achieving 80 to 90 percent clean electricity by 2030-2035 would require building 50 GW to 100 GW of wind and solar and up to 23 GW of battery storage annually.
• All analyzed studies suggest that a power system with 70 to 90 percent clean electricity would remain dependable and able to match supply and demand.

APA

ESPOSITO, D. (2021). STUDIES AGREE 80 PERCENT CLEAN ELECTRICITY BY 2030 WOULD SAVE LIVES AND CREATE JOBS AT MINIMAL COST. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Studies-Agree-80-Percent-Clean-Electricity-by-2030-Would-Save-Lives-and-Create-Jobs-at-Minimal-Cost.pdf

Chicago

ESPOSITO, DAN. STUDIES AGREE 80 PERCENT CLEAN ELECTRICITY BY 2030 WOULD SAVE LIVES AND CREATE JOBS AT MINIMAL COST. Energy Innovation, 2021. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Studies-Agree-80-Percent-Clean-Electricity-by-2030-Would-Save-Lives-and-Create-Jobs-at-Minimal-Cost.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=ESPOSITO |first1=DAN |title=STUDIES AGREE 80 PERCENT CLEAN ELECTRICITY BY 2030 WOULD SAVE LIVES AND CREATE JOBS AT MINIMAL COST |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=September 2021 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Studies-Agree-80-Percent-Clean-Electricity-by-2030-Would-Save-Lives-and-Create-Jobs-at-Minimal-Cost.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{esposito2021studies, author = {ESPOSITO, DAN}, title = {{STUDIES AGREE 80 PERCENT CLEAN ELECTRICITY BY 2030 WOULD SAVE LIVES AND CREATE JOBS AT MINIMAL COST}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Studies-Agree-80-Percent-Clean-Electricity-by-2030-Would-Save-Lives-and-Create-Jobs-at-Minimal-Cost.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }