The 2015 Revolution…Now report, recently released by the U.S. Department of Energy, shows a dramatic increase in deployment and a decrease in cost of transformational technologies: wind turbines, solar technologies, electric vehicles (EVs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Between 2008 and 2014, land-based wind turbines accounted for 31 percent of all new generation capacity installed in the U.S., while their cost was reduced by about 40%.
More than 8 gigawatts of distributed solar PV were installed, which is enough to power roughly 1 million American homes. Utility-scale solar PV grew by 68 percent in 2014 to 9.7 gigawatts total. Solar PV costs dropped by 50-60% over period of six years.
Nearly 300,000 EVs were sold in the U.S. through 2014, that is equivalent to taking nearly 150,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road. The expected cost of
EV batteries at high-volume has fallen by an astounding 70% since 2008.
A total of 78 million LED bulbs have been installed through 2014—a six-fold increase since 2012. LED bulbs available now consume 85% less energy than incandescent bulbs with nearly 90% reduction in cost since 2008.
