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Climate One

Making Solar Great Again

Climate One

Climate One

News, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences, Social Sciences

4.7583 Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

More and more, conservative voices are making the case that the U.S. can’t achieve energy dominance without solar power. Even the leading industry trade group is changing its strategy. Earlier this year, Politico reported that the American Clean Power Association launched the “American Energy First” campaign to engage Kellyanne Conway and conservative influencers like Katie Miller “to amplify the benefits of solar energy” and “note the harm that could result from reckless trade policy.” Meanwhile, conservative groups at the state and federal level are advocating for building out solar power in service of private property rights, economic development and national security. Episode Guests: Kelsey Brugger, Congressional policy reporter, Politico  Skyler Zunk, Executive Director, Energy Right; Executive Director, America First Energy  Lillian Floutsis, Indiana Senior Field Representative, Indiana Land and Liberty, Conservative Energy Network  This episode also features a reported piece from David Condos of KUER. Episode Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 03:00 – Kelsey Brugger explains American Clean Power memo about reaching out to conservative influencers 06:30 – Does this indicate an ideological shift on the right? 09:40 – How much can this effort shift views within the administration 14:00 – Kelsey Brugger on what this story says about how the clean energy industry is positioning itself 19:00 – Skylar Zunk shares rationale behind his “Make Solar Great Again” hats 23:40 – How America First Energy frames solar energy 32:00 – How approach to solar energy conversation differ in D.C. and Louisiana 36:50 – KUER’s David Condos reports on Utah communities moving toward renewable energy 43:00 – Lillian Floutsis shares story from Allen County, Indiana, about local debate around setbacks for solar energy development 48:00 – Floutsis on framing solar conversations in Indiana around property rights, economic development and national security 53:00 – Climate is usually not a part of these conversations 54:20 – Floutsis share solar success stories 57:50 – Climate One More Thing For show notes and related links, visit our episode page at climateone.org --- Join us for our induction cooking demonstration night on July 21, at 6 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Come enjoy delicious food and wine, and learn about why cooking with magnets beats cooking with gas. Tickets available at climateone.org/events  *** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today. *** Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:30.0

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1:03.8

Kusha Navadar. And this is Climate 1. Hey Kusha, there was some good news last week.

1:12.3

Oh, yeah. Tell me. What is it?

1:13.9

So according to the energy think tank, Ember, which tracks this kind of data, in May, the sun

1:19.7

provided more electricity than coal in the U.S.

1:22.7

That's great. I did see that headline in a bunch of places, actually. So I guess people

1:27.1

must be hungry for good news.

1:29.0

Yeah, I think that's true.

1:31.0

So to be fair, solar only beat coal by about half a percent, but it's still being considered a pretty noteworthy achievement, especially considering the moment we're in, where the Trump administration has actively been working to undermine solar and wind,

1:45.8

while boosting oil and gas and even coal.

1:49.0

I mean, he's rolled back and defunded a ton of programs that were subsidizing or supporting

1:53.6

the solar industry.

1:54.5

So it's now facing a whole lot of new headwinds.

...

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