With gas $4+ a gallon, we can’t afford to curtail green energy

One month ago, a piece of news came out that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about: The Trump administration is paying a French company $1 billion to stop building previously approved wind farms off the East Coast. Instead, the company, TotalEnergies, will invest in oil and gas projects in Texas.

Where once hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses benefitted from these projects that were already in development, we’re now paying the private company to completely abandon them. Not to mention all the people employed to build and operate the wind farms who lost their jobs. The amount of waste is staggering.

It’s been nothing short of crazy-making watching the Trump administration roll back green energy initiatives at the same time that its ill-conceived war in the Middle East sends oil prices soaring and causes fuel shortages to mount around the world. The $1 billion payout to TotalEnergies is just the most outlandish example of the administration choosing the fossil fuel industry over taxpayers.

I’m not the first to point out that irony, but what’s worse is that the cuts to renewable energy would be just as problematic even if the Strait of Hormuz never closed. AI data centers are guzzling untold amounts of energy and further straining over-burdened electrical grids across the U.S. Given how all-in our government is on AI, you’d think it would want to invest in cheap, plentiful energy like solar and wind to aid its expansion.

Instead, the Trump administration has made it a priority to cut off and scale back green energy investments made possible under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans have eliminated tax breaks for electric vehicles and solar projects, and the White House has attempted to quash all in-progress offshore wind projects in America. (At least the latter hasn’t been completely successful.)

Rolling back these initiatives is another way the current administration is actively setting the U.S. up for failure in the future. Other countries—namely, China—aren’t slowing their investments and research in green energy, even as our government intentionally kneecaps American innovation in the space.

In fact, the recent energy shocks caused by the war in Iran are speeding up adoption of renewable initiatives in countries throughout Europe. Demand for rooftop solar systems has surged across the continent since the war began, reports Reuters, and there is widespread support to pay more to shift to renewables.

“Sunlight doesn’t depend on narrow and vulnerable shipping straits,” United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said recently. “Wind blows without massive taxpayer-funded naval escorts.”

Meanwhile in the U.S., we’re still arguing over whether solar panels work at night.

But renewable energy is more stable than fossil fuels, and in many cases, it’s much cheaper to deploy. Installation can still be expensive for individuals (I think often of this Home Economics writer who had solar panels installed), but it can pay for itself and then some over time.

As always, it will be average Americans who suffer from our government’s deference to industry: from higher energy bills, loss of jobs, and the growing sense that our leaders are intentionally keeping us in the dark.

-Alicia

Energy crisis in the news

This week, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a series of permitting policies that wind and solar ‌energy groups argued have stymied the development of new energy-generation projects.
And in March, for the first time ever, renewables supplied more power to the U.S. than natural gas.
But the Trump administration’s crusade against clean energy is still costing states like Maine good-paying jobs and economic growth.
Trump has a bizarre vendetta against windmills specifically. He has said “they cause cancer (they don’t), are ‘driving whales crazy’ (no evidence of that) and spew ‘tremendous fumes’ when they are constructed. (That’s also not accurate.),” The New York Times writes.
There’s no reason all of this needs to be a partisan issue, except that oil and gas execs donate a lot of money to politicians. Unfortunately, their influence is working: “The share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who say the country should prioritize oil, coal, and natural gas over wind and solar power has doubled to 71% over the last six years,” according to Pew Research Center.
Democrats, meanwhile, want to bring the green energy incentives back.
High gas prices have some Americans reconsidering EVs. Wall Street Journal readers shared their thoughts and advice on going electric.

What else we’re talking about

I’m just going to give you the headline of this NPR All Things Considered story and encourage you to listen. It’s a delightful three-minute anecdote! “A vasectomy and a side of beef: The only thing these Vermonters don’t need is syrup.” -Lindsey
My reading has been so off the past few months as work kind of overtook my life, and I had a hard time disconnecting. I picked up Lena Dunham’s new book, Famesick, this week, and it’s been a great slump-breaker. (Looking for other book recs? Check out our recent question of the week!) -Alicia
The internet has a lot of feelings about Skims CEO Emma Grede telling the The Wall Street Journal that she’s a “three-hour mum.” I personally always delight when high-powered women are completely frank in interviews, even when I don’t agree with their perspective. -Lindsey

On our radar

Congrats to Jodi Kantor on her new book, How to Start: Discovering Your Life’s Work! Although right now, I could really use a book called How to Keep Going. -Lindsey

Comment of the week

“My ‘emergency fund’ is to cover living expenses in the case of job loss, plus some extra for unexpected large expenses, and then I have separate savings buckets for travel and other short-term planned expenses.

Mine used to be three to six months of living expenses, but right now I’m trying to save up for nine to 12 months because I’ve been unsuccessfully on the job hunt for the last 18 months (while full-time employed), and I am hearing talk of layoffs at my company. I think once I feel more secure in the job market, I’ll reevaluate, but the reality that it can take much longer than three to six months to find a new job in my field got me spooked!”

-Laur on “How much do you have saved in your emergency fund?”

Stat of the week

46% of Americans who are not retired are worried that AI will render their jobs obsolete.

-Transamerica Center for Retirement’s Life and Money: Retirement Security in the USA report

TikTok of the Week

@aliciatalksmoney
4/23/26: Should the US introduce a “robot tax” to stem AI-related job loss? #economics #ai #layoffs
♬ original sound - Alicia Adamczyk

What else we published on The Purse this week

Can you believe The Purse has published 50 Home Ecs?

Best money we spent last week

I’ve long wanted an actual sit-down vanity in my apartment for makeup application (I’m a girly-girl at heart), and I finally figured out how to make it work in the limited space we have. I purchased a small writing desk that I’m repurposing—and also using as my bedside table—and I love how it looks! ($200) -Alicia
Tammy at Browtiste has been doing my brows since I worked at Refinery29, and she used to come to our offices (best perk!). I’ve followed her to so many different locations around the city ever since, and it’s worth it because I love the way she makes my brows look, and it’s always so fun to catch up and talk about everything from our kids to the highs and lows of building a small business. ($45) -Lindsey

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