Driving in his Tesla, Alan Northcutt reaches 0 to 60 in just seconds.
It wasn't the speed or how the car inside is less cluttered.
"The reason I got into it was because of climate change," said Northcutt.
It's been something he has been fighting for years in Central Texas.
"We’re feeling it now, but for my kids and grandkids. The impacts are going to be even more dire and affect the quality of their lives if we don’t take action now," said Northcutt.
On his home, you'll find solar panels to help produce cleaner electricity to his home.
"We have those who realize that we have to make a change. They must realize that we have to move from a fossil base economy to renewable energy," said Northcutt.
New reports show that Texas is one of the number one providers of renewable energy; with wind turbines and solar panels all across the state.
"In recent years, the state has built upon its energy experience and trained workforce to take the lead in renewable energy production and services," said a report from the state of Texas.
Northcutt has been pushing the City of Waco to think about the climate when it comes to energy and the vehicles they drive.
What is the City of Waco doing to fight climate change?
The city has made the decision to purchase electric cars when possible and by April City-owned buildings will be 100 percent renewable.
The City of Waco secured a contract with MP2 Energy Texas for 100 percent green, renewable energy from the following Texas wind and solar companies.
- Bruennings Breeze Wind
- Chapman Wind
- Stella Wind
- Phoebe Energy Solar
- and Prospero Solar
The contract is set to start April 1, 2022, and according to the city will save over $400,000 annually. That's nearly $3 million in the next three years.
$1 trillion infrastructure
President Biden's approval had been struggling. Building his approval rating got a boost with the passing of a $1 trillion dollar infrastructure package.
One of his pushes has been clean energy.
According to the Whitehouse, the bill will fund the following:
- Public Transit, the replacement of thousands of transit vehicles, including buses, with clean, zero-emission vehicles.
- Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, invest $7.5 billion to build out the first-ever national network of EV chargers in the United States.
- Clean School Buses, thousands of electric school buses could be provided nationwide. This includes rural areas.
Some Republicans have been critical of the bill. Sen. Ted Cruz has gone on record criticizing the bill.
"Well, I think it is a bad bill. I think it is really unfortunate that we saw House Republicans assist the White House. They were getting their clocks cleaned. It’s another $1.2 trillion in spending; it’s on top of the trillions in spending we have already seen.As you noted, that is already driving inflation across the economy. Theprice of food is going up; the price of milk is going up; the price of gasoline is going up…the price of rent, of homes, of lumber…everything is going up and the Biden administration is causing it. Unfortunately, we saw a handful of House Republicans decide to rescue [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi from the bill crashing on its own. I think that did two things that I think were problematic. Number one: it did what the Biden White House wanted to do and changed the subject from the shellacking they took in Virginia. Virginia was a terrific victory. I was there on election night with Glenn Youngkin. It was a tremendous example of the parents of Virginia saying hell no to this radical, left-wing approach that said parents have no role in their children’s education. But the House Republicans—or a handful of them decided to change the subject from that and I think it also increased momentum for the really terriblebill…the next one…the Bernie Sanders’ socialist budget. I pray to God the Bernie Sanders socialist budget doesn’t pass but these Republicans, sadly, made it more likely."
For Northcutt who's been pushing for the planet for the last several years, he has strong faith things will change but believes it needs to be fast.
