If we want cleaner air and a more stable climate, we need to harness energy from the sun. 这就是为什么我们呼吁城市大力利用太阳能.
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幸运的是，越来越多的美国人每天都在使用太阳能. By 2017, our country had enough solar energy capacity installed to power the equivalent of 900万个家庭.
Yet we’re still not even close to reaching solar’s potential. Every year enough sunlight shines on America to provide 100倍 比我们需要的更多. 我们只捕获了其中很小的一部分. Harnessing more of this power would mean cleaner air and a more stable climate; less strain on natural resources and more resilient communities; and an energy source we can depend on to be virtually pollution-free 只要我们能想象.
是什么让我们慢下来? 什么，如果有的话，能阻止我们?
在一些地方, 我们想得太小了, failing to update policies that would encourage even more Americans to go solar. 在其他地方, 我们的想法太狭隘了, putting the short-term interests of old industries with outdated business models ahead of our health, 环境和健康.
闪亮的城市
Cities are primary drivers of the growth in solar in America. 2016年,就 20 U.S. 城市 had as much solar power capacity installed as the entire country did six years earlier.
洛杉矶/朱帝峰，通过Shutterstock.com
设定更高目标的城市, ensure homeowners receive a fair price for the solar energy they supply to the grid, 使安装面板无麻烦, and provide attractive financing options are generating more solar than similar 城市.
That’s why our 闪亮的城市 project is urging 城市 to think bigger, 变得更聪明, 利用太阳获取更多的能量.
当然, 每个市长都希望自己的城市是最好的, especially when it comes to something with the kind of broad transpartisan support that solar enjoys. So we’re encouraging mayors to run a race to the top on solar by comparing the growth of solar city by city, and showcasing the results through the news media and on social media.
Even as we make the case for solar on environmental grounds, our national network is bringing together a broad coalition that can offer a variety of reasons to persuade local officials to act — from “绿茶党”的积极分子 in Georgia who want “energy freedom” to solar installers in Arizona who want green jobs, from low-income communities in Massachusetts who want cleaner air to business owners in Colorado who want to power their breweries and cafes with solar.
在一起, we’re building on the pro-solar policies our national network has already won in California, 马萨诸塞州和其他10个州以及亚特兰大, 圣地亚哥, Albuquerque and more than a dozen other 城市 — from California’s Million Solar Roofs Initiative to some of the nation’s first solar tax credits in the 1970s. Past successes are making it possible for 城市 to aim higher now. What seemed wildly ambitious yesterday is now absolutely possible.
Yet with a president and Congress who range from hostile to indifferent in their attitudes toward solar power, 这是 比以往更重要 我们在当地使用太阳能.
支持太阳能
Every great technological advance disrupts one or more existing industries, 太阳能也不例外.
A few utilities, including Green Mountain Power in Vermont, have 拥抱太阳, retooling their business models around a grid with thousands of homes generating power as well as consuming it. 不幸的是，其他人没有这么超前. Threatened by the growth of an energy source that requires less capital investment but smarter distribution, many electric utilities and their trade associations are pushing to roll back the policies that have enabled and encouraged solar’s growth. Fossil fuel interests, including the Koch brothers, have also lobbied regulators and others to 削弱或取消 这些政策.
丹·雅各布森，加州环境部
We’re urging state officials to resist these efforts and reject attempts to make it harder for more Americans to go solar.
我们正在用事实反驳错误的信息, including data showing how solar’s benefits to utilities and their customers outweigh the costs of pro-solar incentives. 就像我们的光辉城市项目一样, we’re putting the environment first while bringing together leaders from an array of fields.
America still has a chance to lead on solar, even with Donald Trump in the White House. But only if we sweep past the special interests that are clinging to the business models of the past.