The world is facing its second energy crisis this decade.
The Iran conflict is sending the cost of oil and natural gas through the roof, with oil prices now exceeding $100 per barrel. Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of data centers is increasing demand for new power generation at record pace, triggering electricity price spikes in many regions of the United States. Consumers are feeling the budgetary pinch, governments are scrambling to stabilize energy supplies, and companies are facing rising operating costs.
Fortunately, renewable power is primed to meet this moment.
Renewable Power Offers Several Advantages
Renewable power is electricity generated from natural resources that are unlimited over time. These include solar, wind, hydro and geothermal. For all the talk about energy abundance, renewables are the truly “abundant” energy source.
What makes renewable power fit this moment of crisis is not its environmental credentials, but rather its economic and security ones. Renewables such as wind, solar and hydro have zero fuel costs. Once the power generating system is built, the fuel is free — forever. Fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas can’t say that. Rather, they suffer from price volatility in international markets.
Renewables are homegrown. Every country has access to at least some combination of renewable energy sources. As we pointed out in a recent article, the sun shines and the wind blows just about everywhere at some point. Many nations have access to hydro and geothermal resources, as well. Again, fossil fuels can’t say that.
Finally, the costs of generating electricity from renewables have dropped considerably over the past two decades. For example, the lifetime generation cost of utility-scale solar has fallen a whopping 90% from 2010 to 2024.
This combination of zero fuel cost, secure domestic supply, and massively reduced equipment and generation costs means that renewable power is a cheaper option than fossil-fired power generation in many parts of the planet.
What Others Are Saying
But it isn’t just us saying this. Leaders across the U.S. energy sector say so, too. Here are just a few examples:
“Renewables have grown exponentially over the last five years because they have become the cheapest form of bulk electricity production in almost every market around the world.”
– Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, to Institutional Investor (Feb. 2025)
“You need a whole lot of renewables because they just are cheaper. If you took away all the subsidies, they’d still be cheaper than gas.”
– Doug Lewin, President of Stoic Energy Consulting, to the Houston Chronicle (Mar. 2025)
“Renewables now are economic.”
– Chris Womack, CEO of Southern Company, to Bloomberg (Jan. 2026)
“There is a critical but often overlooked energy fact that is key to understanding why developing and financing sustainable energy projects makes sense. The fact is that energy efficiency and renewable energy assets are the most cost-effective and quickest to deploy energy resources that we have.”
– Bob Hinkle, President and CEO of Metrus Energy, to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and BloombergNEF (Feb. 2026)
“[Renewable energy is growing] quicker than ever in the U.S. We foresee that this trend will still continue, because it’s the cheapest source of energy.”
– Hakan Agnevall, CEO of Wartsila, to Reuters (Feb. 2025)
“We expect and we know that we need more gas-fired generation to get completed. We’re fully supportive of an all-of-the-above approach. But if you pull out the renewables piece of that, which is one of the lowest-cost solutions, you’re going to increase the costs to consumers, and that’s going to have a negative effect.”
– Andrew Flanagan, CEO of RWE Clean Energy, to Axios (Mar. 2025)
“If you take renewables and storage off the table, we’re going to force electricity prices to the moon.”
– John Ketchum CEO of NextEra Energy, to New York Times (Mar. 2025)
“Nowhere in the U.S. have wind and solar expanded as rapidly as they have in Texas. And to the extent that they continue to expand, they tend to keep average prices down over time.”
– Ed Hirs, energy economist at the University of Houston, to Politico (Oct. 2025)
“Variable resources like wind and solar, when they’re operating during these cold weather periods, they’re actually helping to keep a lid on prices.”
– Katie Dykes, Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, as quoted in Canary Media (Feb. 2026)
“The clear message is that grid developers and investors should continue investing only in clean, renewable energy and storage, as it drives down electricity prices.”
– Mark Jacobson, Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University, to Reuters (Apr. 2026)
Take it from Them
Renewable power can provide energy security because it is homegrown. Renewable power can provide price stability because there are no fuel costs. And renewable power can provide electricity affordability because its cost is now so low. You don’t need to take our word for it. Take theirs!
