Earth Day this year heralds several firsts for clean energy, despite fossil fuss

By Trey Thoelcke Published Apr 19, 10:11AM EDT

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Earth Day this year heralds several firsts for clean energy, despite fossil fuss — © gsfc / Flickr

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc.)

The 52nd Earth Day this coming Friday, April 22, arrives at a time of great crisis for the environmental agenda, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causing the greatest rush to produce more oil, gas and coal than at any time since the first Earth Day in 1970.

Still, as Europe readies a ban on Russian oil and U.S. political supporters of fossil fuel companies dig in against pension advisers and asset managers trying to push a transition to clean energy, there are several advances worth noting.

For example, last month for the first time, the U.S. produced and used more energy one day from wind turbines than from coal or nuclear power, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And just two weeks ago, California’s main electric grid ran on almost 100% renewable electricity for one minute, according to local energy authorities.

These may seem like minor victories, but they are the beginning of something we’ll start to hear a lot more about in coming months. . . .

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.