Clean Energy Addresses Affordability, Reliability, and Public Health
Across the United States, federal funding for clean energy and climate projects has been paused, frozen, or cancelled entirely. This comes at a time when the country’s energy grid is already strained, household energy prices are rising, and extreme heat worsened by climate change is increasing. What the country needs, now more than ever, is commitment to prioritizing clean air and water, and recognizing that the health of our communities and our wildlife are inextricably connected. This includes investing in clean, alternative forms of energy that provide reliability, lower energy bills, reduce pollution, and build our economy through new jobs and budding industries.
Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas in the United States. As of 2022, carbon dioxide accounted for 80 percent of the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and emissions from the power sector (electricity generation) account for about 25 percent of those emissions. Those emissions also have detrimental effects on the health of communities and wildlife. The EPA cited public health effects of greenhouse gas pollution including: direct temperature changes like increasingly severe and frequent heat waves; increased harmful air pollution like smog; increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events that put people at risk of death, injury, or disease; and increased spread of food-, water-, and insect-borne illnesses.
As the second largest source of emissions, behind transportation, addressing pollution from the energy sector is critically important. Doing so will require major investment in renewable energy resources, battery and other energy storage technology, emerging technologies such as clean hydrogen, and new transmission lines. It will also require responsibly procuring the critical minerals needed to create solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, and other renewable technologies at scale.
The National Wildlife Federation advocates for work around wildlife-friendly renewable energy siting, use of nature-based solutions as well as technological solutions for carbon sequestration and removal, sustainable aviation fuels, and clean fuels like hydrogen.
A Guide to Responsible Development of Wind and Solar Resources on Public Lands and Waters
To meet our goal of 80 percent of electric power coming from low-carbon sources by the end of the decade, we will need to triple the amount of electricity coming from renewables over current business-as-usual forecasts. This rapid buildout of clean energy is essential to sustaining healthy wildlife populations; it will also affect lands and waters that wildlife depend on.
Development on public lands and waters is unavoidable, but it will come with negative impacts to wildlife as well as communities, particularly Tribal Nations. Where possible, we should look for other opportunities for generating clean energy—for example, by removing obstacles to rooftop solar and distributed wind or by prioritizing already degraded sites near existing transmission corridors.
This report discusses the benefits of wind and solar energy, the regulatory landscape, the potential impacts of development to wildlife and nearby communities, and has expanded recommendations for moving wind and solar development forward responsibly.
Mounting solar panels to buildings and parking lots, like at the Grand Canyon NP visitor center, is a common sense way to produce renewable energy without major disruptions to wildlife. Photo by Michael Quinn/NPS.
Responsible development of renewable energy on public lands and waters involves:
- siting projects responsibly and avoiding, mitigating, and monitoring adverse impacts to wildlife and their habitats,
- allowing for other uses of public lands and waters, where feasible,
- consulting meaningfully with Indigenous Peoples and underserved communities as part of comprehensive efforts to avoid negative impacts,
- engaging with state and local governments and stakeholders from the outset, and
- using the best-available science and information when making decisions.
Materials coming soon.
Geothermal: Heat that can help
Next-generation geothermal technology has the potential to vastly expand the availability of clean, reliable energy to millions of Americans, and with relatively small physical footprint and minimal environmental impact. Geothermal energy provides valuable “baseload power,” meaning that it always produces a consistent output of energy that can be dialed up or down to help stabilize the energy grid.
Geothermal energy’s small footprint and consistent output make it ideal for meeting growing domestic energy demands. And because new next-generation geothermal technologies build upon techniques developed in the oil and gas sector, oil and gas workers stand to benefit due to overlap in skills and technologies between the two sectors.
Below is an illustration showing the difference between conventional geothermal (on the left) with the two types of next-generation geothermal (center and right). Source: U.S. DOE Liftoff Report
Unlocking the Heat Beneath Our Feet: What Hunters and Anglers Should Know About Next-Gen Geothermal Energy
For those of us who spend much of our time in the outdoors, conservation is often top of mind. Hunters and anglers know the need for energy production is a reality, but there is equally a need to ensure it is done right. That’s why hunters and anglers have championed responsible energy development for decades. From oil and gas drilling to commercial solar and wind projects, planning is critical to ensure important wildlife habitat and waterways are not damaged.
Photo by Jeremy Poland/Getty Images
Advanced nuclear energy—an umbrella term that refers to a suite of more modern and still-evolving nuclear technologies and designs—could be part of our future energy mix.
Advanced nuclear provides a non-greenhouse-gas-emitting (at the point of electricity generation) and continuous source of power, often called “clean, firm,” with potential safety and sustainability improvements over conventional nuclear. But concerns remain, especially around nuclear waste and uranium extraction impacts to lands, waters, wildlife, and communities. Advancements in nuclear energy technology have not fully eliminated some of the major safety and health concerns associated with nuclear, including radiation and national security risks. Advanced nuclear is very much still a developing industry. But understanding what it is can be a helpful first step for conservation and climate advocates and decision-makers.
Reference Guide
Responsibly procuring the critical minerals and 
materials needed to create solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, and other renewable technologies at scale presents its own set of environmental and social challenges.
This reference guide focuses on which critical minerals are needed to deploy renewable energy technologies at scale to meet climate targets. It includes the projected demands of critical minerals, the connection with foreign supply chains, and a look at domestic supplies. We also discuss the environmental and social implications for mining critical minerals both abroad and domestically, examine the supply issues that can emerge from extreme weather disruptions, and provide policy recommendations.
Mining on Private Lands
Mining for critical minerals on private lands in the United States requires several considerations. Without strong regulatory oversight, it can reduce biodiversity and degrade habitats and is associated with massive amounts of waste. That waste can contain toxic contaminants such as arsenic, mercury, andiron sulfide, posing long-term risks to water resources. Currently, the U.S. lacks a comprehensive framework for managing mine waste and the resulting water pollution. Environmental Impact Assessments are another tool to predict and mitigate negative environmental impacts associated with extractive activities such as mining.
Nearby communities and workers may also be affected by mining for critical minerals. A substantial portion of known U.S. lithium deposits are located near Native American reservations, making the clean energy transition inseparable from the interests and rights of Indigenous communities. Additionally, mining workers and communities near private land operations often face gaps in protections and opportunities for workers to participate in safety decisions can be limited.
NWF’s Climate and Energy Policy team partnered with the University of Michigan’s DOW Sustainability Fellows to create topical fact sheets covering these issues with policy gaps and recommendations. View individual fact sheets below or download them all here.
Beneath the Surface: Mining for a Clean Energy Future
NWF partnered with the University of Michigan’s DOW Sustainability Fellows to create policymaker resources including an ArcGIS storymap examining hotspots across the country where critical mineral deposits overlap with important wildlife habitat, Tribal lands, and private working lands. It highlights lessons learned from past mining projects and presents industry best practices and federal policy recommendations for future mining.
Clean Energy Talking Points
In an uncertain future, clean energy remains more reliable, affordable, and safer than fossil fuels.
Clean energy is reliable
Fossil fuels are the leading cause of energy grid blackouts. As the climate crisis worsens, America’s rising energy demand and increasingly frequent extreme weather events are leading to more energy grid blackouts. Some are quick to point the finger at renewable energy, however, renewable energy has actually become more reliable than traditional fossil fuel-based energy in recent years.
Take Winter Storm Elliott in 2022—where failing gas plants were responsible for 70 percent of its forced outages and coal was responsible for 16 percent, while wind production remained high during the storm. In places like New England, the winds blow strongest when temperatures are the coldest, and therefore, when the heating needs are greatest.
Clean energy leads to cleaner air, water, and a safer climate
Along with dangerous levels of greenhouse gases, fossil fuels releases a combination of chemicals that form particulate matter which cause respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease, premature death, aggravated asthma, and cancer. Air pollution also poses a significant threat to wildlife, impacting their health, reproduction, and survival, as well as the ecosystems they inhabit.
Unlike finite fossil fuels that are being depleted at a rapid rate, solar, wind, and next-generation geothermal are renewable resources that don’t emit greenhouse gases or other pollutants when operating. When comparing life cycles, renewables emit much less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. For example, from cradle to grave, coal-fired electricity releases 20 times more greenhouse per kilowatt-hour than solar or wind.
Clean energy is affordable
Investing in clean energy brings down household bills and builds the economy. The cost of wind and solar have fallen dramatically over the past decade, making them the most affordable new electricity sources and good sources of state and local taxes, contributing roughly $1.4 billion every year.
The EPA also estimates that for every dollar invested in cleaning the air, $30-90 are returned in improved health and economic productivity. Reducing air pollution is an economic accelerant.
NWF Clean Energy Blogs
New Research, Same Findings: Clean Energy Needs Community Engagement
Can Clean Energy Infrastructure Co-exist with People and Wildlife?
Deregulation Won’t Protect Us from Climate Change
Sacrificing Miners’ Health for a Dying Industry
The Future of Clean Energy is at Risk
Defunding the Future: Federal Aid Pulled from Native Women’s Solar Jobs Initiative
Defunding the Future: Inside Federal Cuts to Tribal Energy Sovereignty
Ohio County Makes History: Residents Force First-Ever Vote to Overturn Wind and Solar Ban