This is an op/ed by Carson Butts of Conservatives for Clean Energy North Carolina
NASCAR, America’s premier motorsport organization, has a long history of innovation: roll cages, safety harnesses, roof flaps, computer-designed aerodynamics, biometric driver monitors, composite body panels, and clean energy.
Wait – clean energy? In stock car racing? Yep, you bet.
NASCAR was among seven recent recipients of the 2024 North Carolina Clean Energy Champion Awards for a reason. Several reasons, actually.
For starters, like many other North Carolina businesses, NASCAR has embraced solar energy, installed electric vehicle chargers at its facilities, and committed to carbon-zero by 2035. That’s important for America’s energy independence, electricity diversification, clean air, and economic development across our state.
But the biggest excitement is on the track, where NASCAR and ABB, a global leader in electrification and automation, are developing a stunning prototype electric race car with more than 1,300 horsepower.
Brandon Thomas, NASCAR’s vice president of vehicle development, showed an electrifying video of the car at the recent Clean Energy Champion Awards luncheon in Raleigh. It’s one of the best “hype videos” I’ve ever seen.
NASCAR’s commitment to clean energy technology is important. As Thomas noted when he received the award, NASCAR attracts many fans with conservative political views. As an ideological conservative who enjoys watching races and celebrates innovation, I’m among them.
Beyond that, nothing else says “North Carolina” better than NASCAR. Just as stock car racing has evolved since its birth in our foothills almost a century ago, so too have our state’s energy needs and opportunities. NASCAR rightly takes pride in its history while looking to the future. Like other pragmatic business leaders, NASCAR is setting the pace on clean energy.
The other Clean Energy Champion Award winners this year are Walmart, Truliant Federal Credit Union, the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, state Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover), state Rep. Jake Johnson (R- Henderson, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford), and former state Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln).
The 10th annual awards, presented by Conservatives for Clean Energy North Carolina and Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy, honor policymakers, businesses, chambers of commerce, and other economic development organizations for showing leadership in advancing clean energy solutions, innovation, opportunities, and growth across the state.
Strong public support
Across all partisan and ideological lines, North Carolina’s voters strongly support more energy choices and more renewable energy, including offshore wind.
The 2024 North Carolina Energy Poll, conducted for CCENC and the national Clean Energy Buyers Association, found that among the state’s voters:
- More than 77% want more consumer energy choices. This includes 79% of Republican voters, 77% of Unaffiliated voters, and 77% of Democratic voters.
- More than 61% support building offshore wind turbines, up from 55% last year. Support rose to about 66% when told of the private investment wind energy would attract or that the turbines would be barely visible from the shore.
- Overall, 74% think state law should encourage more renewable energy.
As demand for electricity surges in North Carolina and across America, we need all the energy sources we can get. Embracing clean energy is vital economically, good for consumers, and savvy politically – including for free-market conservatives.
Duke Energy’s own growth plan, recently approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission, includes 7,000 megawatts of new solar and wind energy by 2031, along with 2,700 megawatts of battery storage and more natural gas energy, as it closes old, dirty coal plants.
When a North Carolina brand as iconic as NASCAR celebrates energy innovation as part of its evolving tradition of excitement, the clean energy movement has gone fully mainstream. Ladies and gentlemen, start your thundering electric engines!
Butts is state director of Conservatives for Clean Energy North Carolina.