Assessing the Effects of U.S. Clean Energy Policy
One might ask how the Clean Energy policies of the Biden-Harris Administration have turned out. A government self-assessment for the, “Invest in America” agenda has been published. This predicts significant impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) on the U.S. energy economy and emissions reductions if the policies (including loan guarantees, financial supports and tax-incentives) are followed to their logical completion. A map shows the state-by-state and technology-by-technology breakdown of results (including jobs). An independant, evidence-based international assessment was published in the journal Science by Annika Stechemesser et al. (“Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades“). Taken together, these studies suggest rational directions for future policies.
January 31, 2022: U.S. Department of Energy 2022 SETO Peer Review
The 2022 Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Peer Review included an overall review of the office’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives. This is the first time such a review was part of the office’s biennial peer review. Along with 5 other experts, Dr. Smestad participated as a peer reviewer in the JEDI portion of the 2022 Peer Review. His involvement is a natural progression that stems from his 2020-2021 work in support of U.S. clean energy policies summarized below. Dr. Smestad also served as a reviewer for the 2024 SETO peer review and for the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). Read more about the 2022 SETO peer review.
January 24, 2021: Radio interview with Dr. Smestad
Greg Smestad was interviewed on KKUP Radio, Cupertino 91.5 FM on, A Meeting of the Ways. Topic: Policy recommendations to create jobs in the clean energy industry. The content in the 23 November entry below is discussed. Listen:
November 23, 2020: Paper and presentation at the Clean Energy Policy Summits
Greg Smestad is a key contributor to Clean Energy for Biden’s Policy Summit series, where he joined other speakers – all authors of the Building Back Better Policy Recommendations. The summits are the culmination of the work by over 200 volunteers on 48 policy recommendation papers to implement key parts of the Biden-Harris clean energy and climate plans. You can view a summary of the presentations here.
Read More (16 MB PDF; see page 17 onward)
Read the related CLEEN project summary – CLEEN Project (www.thecleenproject.org)
July 29, 2020: Meta economic analysis suggests 10 million jobs possible
Greg Smestad contributes a meta economic analysis that averages the overall effects of spending to estimate the number of clean energy jobs created per dollar invested by a government or by (public/private) investors. For example, a $2 trillion clean energy investment in the U.S. could yield approximately 10 million jobs. Download Slides
Read his related March 30, 2021 LinkedIn article, “Job Creation in a Clean Energy and a Low Carbon Economy: Pulling Numbers from the Air?“
June 25, 2020: Groundbreaking free webinar for Clean Energy for Biden
Dr. Smestad organizes a groundbreaking free webinar for Clean Energy for Biden NorCal section that focused on Clean Energy and Environmental Justice. It featured Professors Dan Kammen and Tracey Osborne.
View Slides and Q&A – To request the video for the presentations, please contact us by sending an email message to .
June 7, 2020: Radio interview with Dr. Smestad
Dr. Smestad interviewed on KKUP Radio, Cupertino 91.5 FM at 5 pm (PDT). Topic: Building Back Better and how to create jobs in the clean energy industry. Listen to the interview:
March 31, 2020: Dr. Greg Smestad quoted at Solartribune.com
In the final quote of the article, “Empowering Individual Action to Fight Climate Change,” Dr. Smestad highlights the importance of people going directly to the source to educate themselves; this approach is not just for the experts. This is in the, “Educate Yourself and Others” section. Read more
February 28, 2020: Dr. Smestad posts on Energy Central
Dr. Smestad posts, “Helping Communicators Differentiate Solar Power Projects”. This post raises the question as to how the community of Clean Power and Generation Professionals can help those who interface with the public about our activities and work. This is important for solar power plant projects. View the post.