Photo | Solar panels line rooftops in downtown Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ — While renewable sources of energy are under attack by some in the national discourse, a recent photo of downtown Santa Cruz clearly shows that solar power initiatives are alive and well locally where large solar arrays collect energy from the sun at, from left, the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Walnut Avenue Commons co-housing community and the Cruzio-Ecology Action building.

In 2024, the United States installed a record-breaking 50 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, representing a 21% increase compared to 2023 and is the largest single year of new capacity additions by any energy technology in over two decades. Solar energy accounted for 66% of all new electricity-generating capacity added to the US grid in 2024.

According to LandApp, solar power in the United States offset 227 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2024. This is equivalent to removing 53 million vehicles from the road or planting 3.8 billion trees.