What it is
Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison and current head of the US Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, wrote this book in 2013 to prove that clean energy is a wealth-creation opportunity, not a sacrifice. He draws on his experience building the first solar services company and deploying billions in clean energy financing.
Why we picked this
Shah walked the talk: he built SunEdison into the world's largest solar energy services company. This book is the pure economics argument for clean energy investment, written before the recent cost collapses that made his thesis even more compelling. The numbers have only improved since publication.
Key takeaways
- Emerging market solar and wind auctions now regularly come in below $30/MWh in India, Brazil, and the Middle East.
- US solar plus 4-hour battery hybrid systems cost $46-102/MWh unsubsidized, competitive with gas combined cycle ($39-101/MWh) and well below gas peakers ($115-221/MWh).
- Shah's core thesis: climate solutions should be sold as better products, not as sacrifices. The economics of clean energy now make this argument self-evident.