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The
Energy
Transition


THE CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE IS A BATTLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS

A broad, and sometimes quixotic, retail effort to win the fight against global
warming is playing out one person at a time, with nary a mention of climate
change.

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Jack Ewing reported from the Kansas City area, Clifford Krauss from Wyoming and
Lisa Friedman from the Southeast to assess shifting attitudes toward green
technology. Photographs by Mason Trinca.

This is the third article in a three-part series examining the speed, challenges
and politics of the American economy moving toward clean energy.

Aug 12, 2023

Like many people driving an electric car for the first time, Mikey Marohn had
questions: Could he drive hundreds of miles to visit his father without
stopping? Where would the chargers be? How did you turn it on?

“I’m anxious,” said Mr. Marohn, a 34-year-old carpenter, as he settled behind
the wheel of a Chevrolet Bolt near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

But after a test drive with Alicia Cox, executive director of Yellowstone-Teton
Clean Cities, a nonprofit group that promotes green transportation, Mr. Marohn
had gone from skeptical to curious.

“I would consider it,” he said after Ms. Cox explained that he could save $3,000
a year in fuel costs if he replaced his Chevy Impala with a Bolt. “I’d like to
save money and help the planet.”

Green energy and transportation have advanced faster than many experts thought
possible a few years ago. But many hurdles remain, including efforts by
conservative politicians to prolong the use of coal, oil and gas and campaigns
by environmentalists and local residents to block new wind turbines,
transmission lines and mines.

Just as important will be persuading people like Mr. Marohn that electric cars,
renewable energy and electric heaters and stoves are practical, economical and
exciting.

Ms. Cox, who travels Wyoming offering free rides in the Chevy Bolt, is part of a
broad, and sometimes quixotic, retail effort to win hearts and minds in the
fight against climate change, one person at a time. Biden administration
officials are trying to highlight to voters the economic benefits of his energy
and industrial policies. Corporations like General Motors, which makes the Bolt,
are spending billions of dollars to build electric vehicles they hope to sell
everywhere, even in conservative states like Wyoming.

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3
4
Alicia Cox, executive director of Yellowstone-Teton Clean Cities, travels
Wyoming offering free rides in an electric Chevy Bolt.
Continue scrolling

In conversations with activists, policymakers and corporate executives, it
becomes clear that a save-the-planet argument doesn’t go very far. Most people
won’t buy green technology unless it will clearly save them money and wows them
with stunning designs or jaw-dropping performance.

Many, conservatives in particular, chafe at the prospect of the government
forcing them to buy electric cars or ditch their natural gas appliances, polls
show. That’s perhaps why those pitching the technology often avoid mentioning
climate change. They emulate evangelists who don’t lead with Jesus when trying
to win over nonbelievers.


MANY AMERICANS ARE STILL SKEPTICAL OF E.V.S. ESPECIALLY REPUBLICANS.

How likely U.S. adults say they are to seriously consider purchasing an electric
vehicle the next time they purchase a car or truck:

Not too/Not at all

Very/Somewhat

38%

U.S. adults

50%

30%

56%

Democrat

70%

20%

Republican

How likely U.S. adults say they are to seriously consider purchasing an electric
vehicle the next time they purchase a car or truck:

Not too/Not at all

Very/Somewhat

38%

U.S. adults

50%

30%

Democrat

56%

70%

20%

Republican

Source: Pew Research Center

Note: Percentages do not add up to 100. The rest of the survey respondents said
they did not plan to purchase a vehicle.

By The New York Times

The Clean Energy Future Is a Battle for Hearts and Minds - The New York Times

A clean energy future will require painstaking and individually tailored
persuasion campaigns. About half of Americans say they are not interested in
buying electric cars, and a little more than half say they have not seriously
considered solar panels, heat pumps or electric water heaters, a recent Pew
Research Center survey found.

“I never expect anyone to adopt an E.V. on the first go of it,” Ms. Cox said.
“They need someone walking along beside them as they are making the decision.”

“I never expect anyone to adopt an E.V. on the first go of it,” Ms. Cox said.



SELLING GREEN ENERGY

Jae Landreth operates a solar installation business in Baldwin City, Kan., a
rural town southwest of Kansas City. Though he believes in climate change, he
said, he “learned the hard way” not to mention it when marketing solar panels to
his neighbors.

“That’s not how you sell it,” he said over coffee at his home. “Nobody’s ever
going to make a decision unless it benefits them in a money sense.”

Mr. Landreth, an ebullient man who plays percussion in a Phil Collins tribute
band, owns a Tesla, an electric off-road vehicle and an electric Ford F-150
Lightning pickup he uses for his business, Solar Planet.

His enthusiasm for electric vehicles is hardly the norm in this patch of
corn-and-cattle country. It’s not unusual for drivers of Teslas and Toyota Prius
hybrids to get “coal-rolled” by diesel trucks rigged to produce clouds of black
exhaust on demand.

One of Mr. Landreth’s customers is Rob Leach, a dairy farmer. Mr. Leach hired
Mr. Landreth to install solar panels on his barn when it was rebuilt after a
2019 tornado. The panels power the large fans that were keeping Mr. Leach’s cows
cool on a July day when the temperature was in the high 90s.

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Jae Landreth’s solar installation business in Baldwin City, Kan., counts Rob
Leach, a dairy farmer, among his customers.
Continue scrolling

Cost was crucial, according to Mr. Leach. “I said, ‘I just want to know at the
end of the month, am I going to be paying less even with my investment in
solar?’ And that has been the case.”

Mr. Leach has since encouraged other farmers to install solar panels. “I’ve had
several friends of mine that were, you know, not necessarily trying to save the
planet,” he said. “They just wanted to save money.”

The Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats last year allocated hundreds of
billions of dollars in incentives for wind and solar manufacturing, electric
vehicles and other clean energy.


A CLEAN ENERGY MANUFACTURING BOOM IN THE MAKING

New manufacturing investments announced since the Inflation Reduction Act passed
in August 2022



Source: Jack Conness of Energy Innovation and additional research by The New
York Times

Note: This map only shows projects for which a detailed location has been
announced.

By The New York Times

The Clean Energy Future Is a Battle for Hearts and Minds - The New York Times

Although no Republicans voted for the bill, much of the money has gone to
G.O.P.-led states in the South where many automakers, battery manufacturers and
solar companies are building factories in part to take advantage of the law’s
tax breaks.

Getting credit for the new jobs is a political imperative for President Biden,
who will be seeking re-election next year. That helps explains why his energy
secretary, Jennifer Granholm, spent part of July traversing the Southeast in a
caravan of electric vehicles.


MORE GREEN INVESTMENTS ARE FLOWING TO RED COUNTIES

Location of new clean energy manufacturing investments by 2020 county election
results

$53.3 billion

Trump counties

Biden counties

$19.1 billion

N/A

$4.0 billion

$53.3 billion

Trump

Biden

$19.1 billion

N/A

$4.0 billion

$53.3 billion

Trump counties

Biden counties

$19.1 billion

N/A

$4.0 billion

Source: Jack Conness of Energy Innovation

Note: The N/A category includes investments for which a detailed location has
not yet been announced.

By The New York Times



Ms. Granholm stopped at universities and elementary schools, a hardware store
and a Baptist church. She made the case that federal investment in clean energy
is creating thousands of jobs, saving consumers money and even protecting the
nation against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has used fossil fuel
exports to exert pressure.

Not on Ms. Granholm’s list of reasons to go green: climate change.

Sipping black coffee at a Starbucks outside Memphis. Ms. Granholm said she liked
to focus on how Biden administration policies were turning the region into a
vibrant manufacturing hub. “It’s important to lean on the message that makes
sense for people where they are.”

Mr. Landreth said he had “learned the hard way” not to mention climate change
when marketing solar panels to his neighbors.



JOBS AND SAVINGS

In North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee — states on Ms. Granholm’s
itinerary — solid majorities accept that global warming is real, according to
detailed polling by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. But there
is widespread skepticism that humans are responsible.

“The climate has always been changing,” said Sue Burns, 59, at a gathering of
Pontiac car enthusiasts in Murfreesboro, Tenn. “The left is out of control” in
insisting that burning fossil fuels is causing a planetary crisis, Ms. Burns
said.

Yet Ms. Burns drives a Prius — a far cry from a Pontiac muscle car — that runs
on an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. She said she had bought
the car to save money on gas.

Among residents benefiting from the economic boost, attitudes may be softening.
Outside Dalton, Ga., Qcells, a maker of solar panels, is planning to expand a
manufacturing plant. The factory is in the congressional district represented by
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who has called fossil fuels “amazing” and
climate change a “scam.”

William Turner, 49, one of Ms. Greene’s constituents, said he didn’t “really buy
into that stuff” about global warming. But he added, “I don’t have anything
against solar, especially if it’s creating jobs.”

Experts say most people won’t buy green technology unless it will clearly save
them money or dazzle them.


The true test of public opinion will come when the promised factories are up and
running, said Jason Walsh, the executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a
partnership of unions and environmental groups.

“Political messaging and press announcements" will not convince anyone, Mr.
Walsh said. “But a paycheck might.”

In Democratic strongholds, Ms. Granholm’s clean energy message went down more
smoothly. Yet even there, many people said they needed to think with their
pocketbooks, not their principles.

“I care about climate change,” said Tia Williams, 29, eating lunch with a friend
at the Georgia Institute of Technology before an appearance by Ms. Granholm. But
she said she wasn’t planning to buy an electric car because they were too
expensive.

“I know the corporations love them, but I don’t see much use for them myself,”
Ms. Williams said of federal incentives designed to make electric vehicles more
affordable.

Slightly less than half of Democrats say they support phasing out fossil fuels,
according to Pew. And just 12 percent of Republicans support doing so. That’s
perhaps why Mr. Biden tends to emphasize the economic upside of his policies.


HOW ELECTRIFYING EVERYTHING BECAME A KEY CLIMATE SOLUTION

To tackle climate change, we’ll need to plug in millions of cars, trucks, home
heaters, stoves and factories.

In July, Mr. Biden went to South Carolina, where he taunted Republicans who had
voted against climate change and infrastructure bills yet were reaping their
benefits. Mr. Biden toured Flex, which makes fast chargers for electric cars and
is in the district represented by Joe Wilson, a Republican who said the
Inflation Reduction Act was “to the detriment of American families.”

“Didn’t get much help from the other team, but that didn’t stop us from getting
it done,” Mr. Biden told the crowd, speaking of the legislation.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, a Democrat, said in an interview that
Republicans were trying to block or roll back efforts to promote electric trucks
and buses, energy efficiency and offshore wind development. But Mr. Cooper
predicted that economics would prevail.

“Even if some of them deny the science of climate change, they can’t deny
good-paying jobs,” he said.


NOT ‘MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’

In Wyoming, where coal, oil, natural gas and souped-up pickups are cherished,
Patrick Lawson is fighting a lonely campaign.

A member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, he tries to get local businesses to
install charging stations. He takes out his Tesla Model Y and Ford F-150
Lightning as an Uber driver at night, less to make money than to drum up
interest in electric vehicles.

Once a year he participates in the Rocky Mountain Rebels Car Show in Riverton,
which adjoins his reservation. “I just want to change the perception that
electric cars are not as good as big, noisy muscle cars,” Mr. Lawson said.

It’s a tough sell. During a Friday night “cruise parade” that opened the show,
Mr. Lawson’s mother, Susan Lawson, drove a red Tesla Model X, its distinctive
wing doors open. As she waited in a lumber store parking lot for the parade to
start, a middle-age woman approached.

“Wow, it’s a Tesla, beautiful car,” said the woman, who identified herself only
as Cheryl, “a patriot and small business owner.”

But then her tone shifted. “I don’t believe in electric cars,” she said. “The
government could turn them off. The government controls our electricity.”

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3
4
5
Patrick Lawson lobbies local businesses to install charging stations, talks to
skeptics and demonstrates his Tesla at the car show’s obstacle course.
Continue scrolling

A few bystanders on the parade route commented favorably about the Tesla’s
looks. But there were brickbats, too. “They’re on their way to Jackson,” someone
said, referring to the liberal resort town. “Good luck getting over the pass in
that thing,” shouted another.

After the Lawsons parked in front of the local Elks lodge, a man pretending to
hold a machine gun fired a spray of imaginary bullets at the electric vehicles.

That kind of reaction doesn’t deter Mr. Lawson, 42, who manages the tribe’s
internet company along with his small charging business, Wild West EV.

When Mr. Lawson arranged $174,000 to match a federal grant to install charging
stations at the city hall and airport, the Riverton City Council declined the
money. The one public charging station in town, outside a sandwich shop, is
often blocked by trucks, sometimes deliberately parked horizontally to make
charging impossible.

During an obstacle race that was part of the car show, another Tesla driver beat
all 40 cars. Onlookers were impressed but still skeptical. “It doesn’t fit
everybody’s needs,” said Kent Wheeler, a technician at an auto body and paint
shop.

Mr. Lawson remains optimistic. “I’m in it for the long haul,” he said. “It’s not
‘Mission: Impossible.’”

Ford Motor, G.M. and dozens of other companies are investing hundreds of
billions of dollars to refit factories and build new ones to produce electric
vehicles. They don’t want to make cars that only Democrats buy.

One company confronting the marketing problem is Polaris, a Minnesota automaker
that builds four-wheel off-road vehicles used by hunters and farmers.

In April, Polaris began selling a $25,000 electric vehicle called the Ranger XP
Kinetic. Advertising barely mentions the environment, instead stressing its
performance. The strategy seems to have worked. The initial production run sold
out two hours after Polaris began taking orders.

Mr. Lawson, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, said, “I just want to change
the perception that electric cars are not as good as big, noisy muscle cars.”


“We knew the target customer,” said Josh Hermes, vice president for off-road
vehicles at Polaris. “We really focused in on the benefits of the product”

One of the first buyers was Paul Rosenzweig, a Georgia resident who is in the
wholesale feed business and is skeptical that climate change is caused by
mankind. Rather, Mr. Rosenzweig, who hunts deer, rabbit and squirrels in
Louisiana, likes how quiet the Polaris is.

“You see more wildlife with electric than you do with the motor burning,” he
said.

When G.M. begins selling a battery-powered version of its Chevy Silverado pickup
this year, it will emphasize the truck’s 450-mile range and towing capacity.

The company’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said the cars were winning people
over. Customers are “figuring out they’re really fun to drive, and it’s really
nice to not have to go to the gas station,” she said in an interview.

There are tentative signs that conservative opposition is wavering.

The Republican-controlled Legislature in Alabama, where Mercedes-Benz makes
electric cars and Polaris builds the Kinetic, has allocated $1 million a year
for a campaign to encourage residents to buy electric vehicles.

“We want to make sure we embrace the jobs and economic opportunities that
accompany this new generation of vehicles,” Kenneth Boswell, director of the
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, said in a statement.

Republican lawmakers in Missouri have sought to block Quinton Lucas, Kansas
City’s Democratic mayor, from raising the minimum wage, making buildings more
energy-efficient and restricting gun ownership. But they have not tried to block
Kansas City from buying electric cars and trucks, Mr. Lucas said.

Building inspectors and supervisors in the Fire Department drive electric cars.
At the city-owned airport, electric tractors deliver baggage, and electric buses
shuttle passengers. The technology saves the city thousands of dollars per
vehicle in maintenance and fuel costs.

“They usually notice everything new that we do and often try to pre-empt it,”
Mr. Lucas said of the Legislature. “And so what that tells me is, actually, I
don’t see this being a flashpoint.”

The
Energy
Transition
The clean energy future is ...
1
Arriving Faster Than You Think
2
Roiling Both Friends and Foes
3
A Battle for Hearts and Minds


Produced By Leo Dominguez, Matt McCann and Nadja Popovich. Edited by Vikas Bajaj
and Rory Tolan.


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