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RESULTS

Two years after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law on August 16, 2022, companies have announced at least 334 major new clean energy and clean vehicle projects across the country. Of the announcements, 278 included estimates on the number of jobs the projects are expected to create and/or investment amounts. Based on this information, the projects, if completed, would create 109,278 new jobs and bring in $126 billion in private investments. The number of major IRA-related clean energy projects announced during the past twelve months declined from the previous year, when 216 projects were announced (211 initially reported). Still, the clean energy projects, jobs and investments related to the IRA are bringing new opportunities and economic benefits to communities across the country. Forty states and two out of three congressional districts are home to at least one announcement. Nearly 60% of the announced projects – representing 85% of the investments and 68% of the jobs – are in Republican congressional districts.

Overwhelming majorities nationally and in key swing states support maintaining tax credits for EVs, clean energy, and energy efficiency while limiting offshore drilling. 88% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for residential clean energy production. 89% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for new energy-efficient heating or air conditioning systems. 86% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for energy-saving improvements, such as fuel-efficient lighting, doors, windows, or insulation. 70% of Americans support the EPA’s standards requiring new cars and light trucks to get 20-30% more miles per gallon by 2027. 80% of Americans support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for used EVs, and 79% support maintaining or increasing the tax credit for new EVs. 76% of Americans say that the government should either maintain or decrease the current amount of offshore drilling, while only 23% want to increase it.

Environmental Polling Roundup - August 9th, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
08-09-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on climate and clean energy issues in the presidential race, extreme weather, nuclear energy, and PFAS.

Poll: Pennsylvania Voters Strongly Support Significantly Increasing Clean Energy Use

Evergreen Action, PennEnvironment, Conservation Voters of PA, Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, and Global Strategy Group
Research & Articles
08-08-2024

Pennsylvania voters widely support expanding clean energy in the state, as most believe that it will bring benefits for people’s health and future generations. 78% of Pennsylvania voters support the state “significantly” increasing its use of clean energy sources like wind and solar to generate electricity, with around half (48%) strongly in favor of this proposal. Support for clean energy expansion also extends across party lines in the state, with 93% of Democrats, 84% of independents, and 59% of Republicans all in favor. Additionally, Pennsylvanians are far more likely to anticipate positive than negative impacts from clean energy expansion on the economy (49% positive / 23% negative), the reliability of electricity (47% positive / 21% negative), and the affordability of electricity (46% positive / 25% negative).

Poll: Majority of Americans support more nuclear power in the country

Rebecca Leppert and Brian Kennedy. Pew Research Center
Research & Articles
08-05-2024

Support for nuclear power has been steadily increasing over the past several years, and the majority of Americans now say that the country should expand its use. More than half of Americans (56%) now say that they favor building more nuclear power plants, which represents a 13-point increase since 2020 (43%) in Pew’s polling. While solar and wind remain the only energy sources that bipartisan majorities support expanding, the gap between Democratic and Republican support for nuclear energy is less than for any other energy source tested by Pew. Here are the differences between Democrats’ and Republicans’ support for expanding different energy sources, ranked from smallest to largest: Nuclear power plants – 18 points (67% of Republicans and 49% of Democrats); Solar panel farms – 27 points (91% of Democrats and 64% of Republicans); Wind turbine farms – 32 points (88% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans); Hydraulic fracking – 45 points (68% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats); Offshore oil and gas drilling – 47 points (73% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats); Coal mining – 48 points (64% of Republicans and 16% of Democrats).

Environmental Polling Roundup - August 2nd, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
08-02-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on extreme weather, environmental justice, water quality, offshore wind, and proposed measures to protect workers from extreme heat.

Poll: Voters Want Companies to Protect Workers From Extreme Temperatures While on the Job

Margo Kenyon, Grace Adcox, Anika Dandekar, and Catherine Fraser. Data for Progress
Research & Articles
07-30-2024

Voters overwhelmingly support proposed new OSHA rules to protect workers from extreme heat. Voters recognize that extreme heat is a hazard for workers. More than four in ten (84%) say that they are concerned about workers facing extreme heat while at the workplace, including 42% who are “very concerned” about it. Concern intensifies when voters learn about the lack of safeguards to protect workers from extreme heat. After reading that “employers are not currently obligated to provide workers with protections against extreme heat, like breaks to cool off or drink water,” nearly nine in ten (88%) say that they are concerned about workers facing extreme heat and most (53%) are “very concerned” about it. Despite the deep partisan polarization that we commonly see in polls about government regulations, voters across party lines are closely aligned on this topic: 96% of Democrats, 86% of independents, and 86% of Republicans say that they support these proposed new OSHA rules.

Environmental Polling Roundup - July 26th, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
07-26-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ experiences and perceptions about extreme weather + the first polling we’ve seen on the Supreme Court overturning the Chevron deference.

Research & Articles
07-26-2024

Cats, cars, buildings and vehicles kill about 6,000 times more birds than wind turbines do. The biggest killer of birds in the U.S. by a long shot is domestic cats. After cats, building collisions due to glass (599 million bird deaths annually, on average) and vehicle collisions (214.5 million annually) pose the second and third biggest threats to birds. Poison kills an estimated 72 million birds each year, and collisions with electrical lines result in 25 million deaths annually. Then, way down at No. 9 on the list of threats to birds is wind turbines, which caused an average of 234,012 bird deaths annually. Audubon and other conservation groups have been working with wind energy companies to study bird deaths and other effects on wildlife, and through their bird-monitoring efforts, we’re learning more and more about how to keep birds safe around turbines. Sometimes, it’s as simple as changing the height of the wind turbine to avoid the altitudes birds migrate at and where they forage for food.

Environmental Polling Roundup - July 19th, 2024

David Gold, Environmental Polling Consortium
Research & Articles
07-19-2024

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on Americans’ attitudes about climate change, views on different energy sources, and beliefs about the links between fossil fuel pollution and health problems.