| Summary: | The United States has not engaged in rapidly decarbonizing its economy for two reasons: because there are unpleasant nuances, and the politics are complicated. The first sector of the economy which is on track to be fully decarbonized is the electric grid. Within this facet of the economy, there are difficult questions to answer in terms of what the role of non-renewable energies (i.e., nuclear energy and CCS) are. In short, the reason why is because they are not the most environmentally friendly options, but because they can help the United States attain a net zero carbon economy, they have roles to play. Another important facet of decarbonizing the economy is that there is a strong sense of urgency behind that sentiment, and that urgency is bolstered by extremely consequential positive feedback loops such as wildfires and thawing permafrost. After these questions are answered, the question of cost comes into play, and this paper calculates the cost of attaining a zero carbon emissions electric grid. The reason for doing so is because President-Elect Biden’s plan is for America to have that by 2035 by spending $1.7 trillion. To verify this plan, data on five states with diverse energy portfolios from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) are collected and analyzed to project the total cost for the nation. Following these calculations, the energy demand of transportation is factored in, which reveals that the President-Elect’s number of $1.7 is within an accurate range. Once these values are calculated, it becomes apparent that the cost for a zero carbon emissions electric grid is not that much relatively speaking. The range of costs annually is anywhere between $76 billion to $182 billion. Given the relatively low cost of this policy on an annual basis, and given the changes in American politics following 2020, a window is open for a new way to politically communicate this policy in terms of the United States’ capacity to run up a deficit.
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