Hey, it's Ira Flato, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Today on the podcast, solar power adoption has been rising fast around the world.

But amid recent federal efforts to limit clean energy, will it make a dent in our climate impact?

This is no longer the whole foods of energy. Nice but pricey.

This is the Costco of energy. It's cheap. It's available in bulk. It's on the shelf, ready to go.

Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has been aggressive in rolling back clean energy initiatives.

Trump's big, beautiful bill, and did tax credits for solar panels and electric vehicles.

And according to reporting from the New York Times this week, the EPA is moving to cancel

$7 billion in federal grants that were intended to help low and middle income families

install solar on their homes. But that isn't the whole story, because Texas, California,

and other states are bringing so much solar and battery power online

that in March, fossil fuels generated less than half the electricity in the U.S. for the first time

ever. And internationally, solar has gotten so cheap to build and install that it's fundamentally

transforming many countries' power grids.

So, despite all the clean energy rollbacks on this side of the pond, where exactly does

solar adoption stand in the U.S. and across the world right now?

Do we still need the defunct solar tax credits? And is it enough to have a

meaningful impact on our climate? Climate activist Bill McKibben has written all about this in his

new book. Here comes the sun, a last chance for the climate and a fresh chance for civilization.

Bill is based in Middlebury, Vermont.

Bill, always welcome back to the show.

Nice to have you.

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