Last year, the United States generated over 683,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity from two main clean energy sources including solar and wind. Solar contributed to 27% of that energy while wind power took the majority at 73%.

For Vermont in particular, it’s hard to go several miles down any given road and not see solar powered panels on the roofs of a few homes here and there. In 2022, solar energy powered 44,000 homes in the Green Mountain State which is up 10% from 2021.

As far as wind energy is concerned, Texas took first place across the United States in 2022 but there were many other states that progress in converting wind energy into power for their communities including Vermont. The wind turbines on the mountain ridges are controversial for valid environmental reasons. However, wind energy in Vermont has helped power 40,000 homes and that’s up 13% from 2021.

If our country continues on this renewable path, the current data combined with federal growth projections suggests that America’s ability to produce electricity from sunlight and wind is capable of growing enough to support the United States’ target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.