Surprise: 4 of the top 5 clean energy states are red states
In 2024, the US produced more than three times as much solar, wind, and geothermal power as it did in 2015. That’s according to a new interactive dashboard just released by Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. The tool, called The State of Renewable Energy 2025, tracks the growth of clean energy and EVs in all 50 states — and it shows that progress has happened everywhere.
“Americans are realizing the simple truth about renewable energy – power from the sun and wind doesn’t pollute, never runs out, and shows up for free,” said Wendy Wendlandt, president of Environment America Research & Policy Center. “Powering America with renewable energy is simply an idea whose time has come.”
The dashboard looks at how far we’ve come in six areas that matter most for a clean energy future: wind, solar, EVs, EV charging, energy efficiency, and battery storage. And the numbers are impressive.
Big gains in clean energy
- Wind, solar, and geothermal comprised 19% of national retail electricity sales in 2024 – up from just 7% in 2015.
- South Dakota took the lead, generating the equivalent of 92% of its retail electricity from wind, solar, or geothermal.
- Texas, California, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas were the top five states for total renewable energy generation.
- Fifteen states got at least 30% of their electricity from renewables – up from just two states in 2015.
And it’s not just the traditional leaders making moves. The Southeast – including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia – is now generating 27 times more solar power than it did in 2015. That’s enough to power over 5.5 million US homes.
Across the US, solar power could run 28 million homes in 2024, which is 7.7 times more than in 2015. Wind energy could power over 42 million homes, up 2.4 times compared to 2015.
Batteries and EVs took off
Battery storage is seeing explosive growth, too. The US had 26 gigawatts of battery storage capacity by the end of 2024 – 89 times more than in 2015 and a 63% jump from 2023. That storage helps keep the lights on during extreme weather and makes renewables more reliable by holding energy when the sun’s not shining or the wind’s not blowing.
EVs are rolling out fast. As of the end of 2023, there were nearly 3.3 million electric vehicles on US roads – 25 times more than a decade ago. And there are now over 218,000 public EV charging ports – six times more than in 2015, and 24% more than the year before.
Still, there’s concern about the challenges ahead due to the Trump administration’s hostility toward renewables and EVs. At the Intersolar 2025 conference in Munich yesterday, Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, flagged the uncertainty facing the US market: “I don’t think there’s ever been a time of greater uncertainty in the US market than right this minute, for a number of reasons – tariffs being one of them and uncertainty around tax incentives being the other.
“But I don’t think any of us could be in this business if we weren’t optimistic, and so I’m eternally optimistic, and believe in the economic fundamentals and the technology fundamentals. I think we’re going to weather through this storm, but it will be a bit rocky for a few years.”
Tax credits helped millions – and could help even more
In 2023, 3.4 million Americans claimed tax credits for clean energy upgrades or energy efficiency improvements in their homes. That saved US households over $8 billion. The Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits are likely to be targeted by Republicans in an attempt to cut spending in Congress. Still, it’s unclear which tax credits are at risk, seeing how the GOP will essentially shoot itself in the foot since its states benefits the most from IRA tax credits.
The report’s authors say the government should keep federal clean energy tax credits in place and that states and cities should make it easier, not harder, for people to go solar, drive electric, or boost efficiency.
“When we reduce energy waste and replace polluting energy sources with renewables, we’re building a safer, healthier world for ourselves and future generations,” said Johanna Neumann, senior director of Environment America’s Campaign for 100% Renewable Energy. “Now is the time to let more Americans choose clean energy, not make it harder for them.”
Read more: Trump’s war on clean energy just killed $6B in red state projects
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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