Renewable energy in the United States has taken off faster than a smartphone-app start-up. In the decade between 2005 and 2014, we increased our wind power by a factor of 10 and generated 33 times more solar electricity. Wind energy—which provides about 10 times more electricity in America than solar thermal and solar photovoltaic sources combined—has been surging steadily since 2010, while growth in solar power has spiked in the last two years. And the best news, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, is that the renewable boom is expected to continue at least through this year and next.

This article appeared as "The Clean Energy Boom" in the January/February 2016 print edition of Sierra.