Over the last 30 years, renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines have become major electricity sources for the United States. One mitigation strategy for climate change would involve vastly increasing renewable systems over the next two to three decades to the point that the United States could sharply reduce the amount of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) used to produce electricity and for transportation. Reducing fossil fuel use is one of the ways that Americans could limit and reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released into the environment. This brief aims to lay out the feasibility of increasing our reliance on renewable energy and describe what such a transition would involve in terms of infrastructure changes, benefits and costs.

Humans’ increased production of greenhouse gasses appears to be a contributor to global temperature changes. One solution is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses released each year, a process known as decarbonization. In this brief, we describe where greenhouse gasses come from and consider what changes could significantly reduce emissions.

Climate change has been among the most hotly debated topics over the last few decades. Are temperatures and sea levels rising? Are weather patterns becoming more extreme? Are such changes due to human activity? Can or should we try to reverse these trends? Is doing so worth the enormous cost and change in the way we live? Answers to these questions have profound implications for how we and our descendants will live their everyday lives. This write-up is intended to provide a summary of climate related topics that are more fully explained in a set of policy briefs that dive deeper into specific scientific knowledge, industry data and real-world implications surrounding climate change. We focus on exploring various policy options, from reducing the use of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) to developing infrastructure to support electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as general pros and cons to it all. Links to these other briefs and supporting documents are in the Further Reading section. Our central argument is that climate, and more specifically, climate change, is a complex issue. Global temperatures are the result of many poorly-understood processes, from nuclear fusion inside our Sun, to patterns in cloud cover around the globe, to changes in urban sprawl. Scientists are uncertain how temperature changes will affect sea levels, severe weather events, and many other factors. It is also unclear as to the nature and extent of changes that will occur in the next 100 years, or the next 1000, and how or if some of these changes naturally reverse themselves as in the past with little to no modern human impact or intervention. In these various briefs we take a look at the costs, benefits, limitations and negative implications of measures to address climate change. Many technologies, such as carbon capture, are experimental. Reforms that reduce the use of fossil fuels will be enormously expensive and may require large changes in American society. Someone can reasonably believe that climate change is a problem, yet not endorse the direction, timing, and speed of proposed policy changes. Our goal is to present arguments about the magnitude, causes, and potential consequences of climate change from a 360-degree perspective. We report scientific data and commercial data and insights, highlighting findings and supporting evidence. We also identify the limitations of these analyses and dissenting views. Regardless of what you think about climate change, it is a certainty that this policy issue will be on governmental agendas for years to come. Our policy briefs give you a basic understanding of climate change so you can form your own conclusions about what role the government and society should play.