The Renewable Energy Revolution: A Remarkable Technological Achievement
By Rebecca Solnit, The Guardian, July 30, 2025
As we navigate the complexities of climate change and the urgent need for sustainable energy solutions, one of the most remarkable and underappreciated stories of our time is the renewable energy revolution. Although it has largely unfolded quietly and technically, this transformation represents an extraordinary technological feat that holds immense promise for the future of our planet.
From Modest Beginnings to Breakthrough Progress
At the dawn of the 21st century, renewable energy technologies like solar panels and wind turbines were viewed as expensive, rudimentary, and insufficient for powering industrial-scale needs. The prevailing sentiment in early climate activism centered on reducing energy consumption, operating under the assumption that no viable alternative to fossil fuels existed. This era fostered a narrative that combating climate change required personal sacrifice and austerity, a perspective that inadvertently played into the hands of the fossil fuel industry, which emphasized individual consumption over systemic change.
While personal moderation has its place, the critical focus must be on dismantling the fossil fuel industry by transitioning to renewables and electrifying our societies. This shift is inherently collective, requiring coordinated policies, investments, and innovation at scale.
Why Renewables Are a Game-Changer
The fossil fuel system is not only polluting and hazardous to human health and ecosystems but also incredibly inefficient. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, about 63% of the global primary energy supply is lost during production, transportation, and conversion before it becomes useful energy in homes, vehicles, or factories. Fossil fuels entail vast logistical overhead, including shipping enormous quantities of coal, oil, and gas across the globe, often consuming more energy in transport than they ultimately provide.
Renewable energy, by contrast, harnesses abundant natural sources like sunlight and wind directly, drastically reducing waste and environmental harm. It promises to render the geopolitics of oil and gas—historically marked by conflict and exploitation—obsolete. While concerns remain about the extraction of battery materials needed to store renewable energy, advances in using more widely available and recyclable materials are progressing swiftly, and the overall environmental footprint is far smaller and more sustainable than that of fossil fuels.
The Rapid Pace of Change
The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable decline in the cost of clean energy technologies. The Rocky Mountain Institute highlights that in the last decade alone, clean-tech costs have plunged by up to 80%, solar energy production has surged twelvefold, and investments in the sector have increased nearly tenfold. Electricity has become the dominant source of useful energy worldwide, supported by gains in efficiency that have lowered overall energy demand by 20%.
Solar power, once prohibitively expensive, is now the cheapest form of electricity generation in most parts of the world. Data from Our World in Data illustrates this dramatic shift: between 2009 and 2019, solar power costs dropped by 89%. What was once over three times more costly than coal-fired power is now nearly three times cheaper. And crucially, wind and solar energy are free sources—the sun and the wind cost nothing; what we pay for are the technologies to capture and distribute their energy.
Toward Energy Justice and Democracy
Beyond economics and efficiency, renewable energy also offers the potential for greater energy independence and democratization. Unlike centralized fossil fuel systems controlled by large utilities and corporations, renewable energy can support decentralized models such as community cooperatives and even autonomous individual systems. This shift could diminish the influence of predatory utilities and fossil fuel companies, providing not only cleaner energy but also more equitable access and control over power resources.
Challenges Remain, But the Future Is Bright
Although governments worldwide have been slow to fully embrace and support this transition—and some political factions and fossil fuel interests actively resist it—the momentum of renewable energy deployment appears unstoppable. The technology is better, cheaper, and more reliable. If we accelerate the transition, we can stabilize the climate and avoid the worst environmental catastrophes.
The renewable energy revolution is ongoing and far from over, yet its achievements to date are nothing short of astonishing. Increasing public awareness and enthusiasm for this shift is vital. Renewables represent not only a solution to climate change but also a vision for a more just, sustainable, and hopeful energy future.
Rebecca Solnit is a columnist for The Guardian US and author of No Straight Road Takes You There and Orwell’s Roses.
Topics: Renewable energy, Climate crisis, Solar power, Wind power, Fossil fuels, Energy transition
