That solar has supplied him low cost energy for 25 years, and this month he put in his fourth iteration of photo voltaic panels on his Vermont house. In an interview after he arrange the brand new system, he mentioned President Donald Trump’s stance towards photo voltaic and different low cost inexperienced power will harm the GOP on this 12 months’s elections as electrical energy payments rise.
After the Biden and Obama administrations sponsored and championed photo voltaic, wind and different inexperienced energy as solutions to battle local weather change, Trump has tried to dampen these and switch to older and dirtier fossil fuels. The Trump administration froze five big offshore wind projects final month however judges this week allowed three of the initiatives to renew. Federal clean energy tax incentives expired on Dec. 31 that embrace putting in house photo voltaic panels.
Meanwhile, electricity prices are rising within the United States, and McKibben is relying on that to set off political change.
“I believe you’re beginning to see which have an enormous political influence within the U.S. proper now. My prediction could be that electrical costs are going to be to the 2026 election what egg costs have been to the 2024 election,” mentioned McKibben, an creator and founding father of a number of environmental and activist teams. Everyday inflation hurt Democrats within the final presidential race, analysts mentioned.
The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors on Friday tried to step up pressure on the operator of the nation’s largest electrical grid to take pressing steps to spice up energy provides within the mid-Atlantic and hold electrical energy payments from rising even increased.
“Ensuring the American individuals have dependable and reasonably priced electrical energy is certainly one of President Trump’s prime priorities,” mentioned White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers.
Renewable power costs drop all over the world
Globally, the worth of wind and solar energy is plummeting to the purpose that they're cheaper than fossil fuels, the United Nations discovered. And China leads the world in renewable power know-how, with certainly one of its electric car companies passing Tesla in annual sales.
“We can’t economically compete in a world the place China will get a variety of low cost power and we've got to pay for actually costly power,” McKibben informed The Associated Press, simply after he put in a brand new sort of photo voltaic panels that may grasp on balconies with little fuss.
When Trump took workplace in January 2025, the national average electricity cost was 15.94 cents per kilowatt-hour. By September it was as much as 18.07 cents after which down barely to 17.98 cents in October, in response to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That’s a 12.8% enhance in 10 months. It rose extra in 10 months than the earlier two years. People in Maryland, New Jersey and Maine have seen electrical energy costs rise at a charge thrice increased than the nationwide common since October 2024.
At 900 kilowatt-hours monthly, which means the typical month-to-month electrical energy invoice is about $18 greater than in January 2025.
Democrats blame Trump for rising electrical payments
This week, Democrats on Capitol Hill blamed rising electrical payments on Trump and his dislike of renewable power.
“From his first day in workplace, he’s made it his mission to restrict American’s entry to low cost power, all within the identify of accelerating income for his associates within the fossil gasoline business. As a end result, power payments throughout the nation have skyrocketed,” Illinois Rep. Sean Casten mentioned at a Wednesday information convention.
“Donald Trump is the primary president to deliberately elevate the worth of one thing that all of us want,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, additionally a Democrat, mentioned Wednesday on the Senate ground. “Nobody must be enthused about paying extra for electrical energy, and this nationwide photo voltaic ban is making everyone pay extra. Clean is affordable and low cost is clear.”
Solar panels on McKibben’s Vermont house
McKibben has been sending extra electrical energy from his photo voltaic panels to the Vermont grid for years. Now he’s sending extra.
As his canine, Birke, stood watch, McKibben, who refers to his house nestled within the Green Mountains of Vermont as a “museum of photo voltaic know-how” obtained his new panels up and working in about 10 minutes. This sort of panel from the California-based agency Bright Saver is sometimes called plug-in solar. Though it’s not but broadly accessible within the U.S., McKibben pointed to the model’s recognition in Europe and Australia.
“Americans spend three or 4 instances as a lot cash as Australians or Europeans to place photo voltaic panels on the roof. We have an absurdly overcomplicated allowing system that’s not like anything on the remainder of the planet,” McKibben mentioned.
McKibben mentioned Australians can acquire three hours of free electricity every day by a authorities program as a result of the nation has constructed so many photo voltaic panels.
“And I’m nearly sure that that’s an argument that each single particular person in America would perceive,” he mentioned. “I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t say: ‘I’d like three free hours of electrical energy.’”
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Swinhart reported from Vermont. Borenstein reported from Washington. Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.
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Environmentalist and creator Bill Mckibben poses for a portrait as he will get new plug-in photo voltaic panels on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Ripton, Vt. (AP Photo/Amanda Swinhart)
| Photo Metadata (2 of 2) | |
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| Date | Jan 17, 2026 09:01 |
| Headline | Climate Activist Green Energy |
| Source | AP |
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