The U.S. is Electrifying Its Way to Less Carbon Emissions

To ensure global temperatures increase less than 1.5 degrees Celsius, thereby warding off catastrophic climate change, the United States must electrify itself, and quickly. That means transitioning our appliances, stoves, boilers, water heaters, cars, and factories from running on fossil fuels to electricity. This also entails ensuring our electricity grid runs on renewable resources like wind and solar rather than coal and natural gas. Luckily, the U.S. has made great strides toward these goals in the last few years.

A recent Schneider Electric report projected that U.S. industrial electrification would grow from 30% in 2024 to 50% in 2030, reducing fossil fuels consumption by 25% over that period. By 2024, U.S. industry is expected to reach 64% electrification, corresponding with a 50% reduction in its fossil fuels consumption.

In 2024, the Biden-Harris administration announced the country’s largest electrification initiative since the 1930s in the form of a $7.3 billion investment in 16 rural electric cooperatives through its signature Inflation Reduction Act. However, because it knows that electrification without converting the grid to renewable energy sources will not sufficiently lower carbon emissions, the funds will be used to purchase power from wind, solar, and hydroelectric power generators.

Combining electrification with renewable resources has positive outcomes beyond lowering carbon emissions. For example, a $5 billion federal grant is allowing schools to transition their buses from diesel to electric, thereby reducing children’s risk of contracting asthma and other respiratory diseases from fumes. Likewise, California’s investment in solar batteries saved the state from experiencing widespread blackouts during a massive heat wave in July 2024. This inevitably saved lives, as approximately 1,220 people are killed by heat waves every year in the United States, many of them in their home.

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