There are several myths about renewable energy, including claims that it is unreliable or that it increases electricity prices. When repeating these myths, many use California as an example, especially when it comes to misinformation about higher prices.
However, one Stanford professor, TikTok user MZJ (@mzj223), sought to clear up misunderstandings about renewable energy and higher prices with a TikTok video that laid out the facts.
@mzj2273 Busting a Myth: Clean, Renewables Lower Electricity Prices I'm going to bust another myth here, that renewables, such as wind and solar, increase electricity prices. Hi. I'm Mark Jacobson, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, to tell you why. First, let's look at the data. There are 11 U.S. states that met between 51 and 120 percent of their electricity demand for the full year between the middle of 2024 and 2025 with just clean, renewable sources: wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal, which we call wind-water-solar, or WWS, sources. Seven of the top 11 states were dominated by wind and four were dominated by hydro. At the top was South Dakota, which met 120 percent of its demand with WWS: 87 percent from wind, 31 percent from hydro, and the rest, from solar. Of the top 11 Wind-Water-Solar states, 10 had electricity prices at least 2 cents per kilowatt-hour below the U.S. average. Thus, states with lots of Wind-Wate-Solar as a percent of demand have low electricity prices, despite the myth to the contrary. The reason is that WWS has zero fuel cost. Fossil fuels and uranium have high and rising fuel costs. Many point to California as having high renewables and high prices. Well, California is ranked only number 12 in terms of Wind-Water-Solar as a percent of demand, and its renewables are keeping electricity prices lower than they would otherwise be. California's high electricity prices have nothing to do with renewables. They have to do with utilities passing onto customers the billions of dollars of costs from the San Bruno and Aliso Canyon fossil gas disasters, strengthening underground gas pipes due to San Bruno, many wildfires caused by transmission line sparks, undergrounding transmission lines to reduce fire risk, upgrading the aging transmission system, the high cost of fossil gas in California, and keeping Diablo Canyon nuclear open. In sum, Wind-Water-Solar technologies reduce electricity prices by eliminating fuel costs and acting together with battery storage to reduce variability and provide reliability. Another myth busted. More information Table of WWS supplied as a percent of demand by U.S. state https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WWSBook/Countries100Pct.pdf Graph of WWS supplied as a percent of demand versus electricity price, by state https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WWSBook/WWSPctDemandVsPrice.pdf Video design: @ngiorgadze1 #Renee #Renewables #Wind #Solar #WWS #EnergyTransition #Energy #EnergyPrices ♬ original sound - MZJ
MZJ begins their video with, "First, let's look at the data."
They then point out that only 11 U.S. states met 51-120% of their electrical demand with renewable energy between mid-2024 and mid-2025. Of those 11 states, the cost for electricity was two cents per kilowatt-hour lower than the national average.
When it comes to California, MZJ explains that it ranks #12 in wind, water, and solar power, and that these renewable energy sources are keeping prices lower than they would be.
As they state, "California's high electricity prices have nothing to do with renewables." And MZJ should know, as they were part of a study released in 2025 regarding the reliability and cost of renewables in California.
MZJ then lists numerous reasons why the state of California is experiencing higher electricity costs, many of which involve extreme weather events and natural disasters. In fact, much of California's recent price hikes are due to utilities passing on the costs of infrastructure upgrades designed to address extreme weather events and outdated equipment.
Just one of these many infrastructure upgrades is the burying of transmission lines, which have sparked wildfires in the past, including the Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and left 85 people dead.
When it comes to renewable energy sources that are cleaner than oil and gas, and help reduce pollution in the atmosphere, the International Renewable Energy Agency found that in 2024, renewable energy helped the U.S. avoid $467 billion in energy costs associated with coal, gas, and oil. It additionally found that renewable energy sources are among the most cost-competitive among new electricity generation.
Several TikTokers were grateful to MZJ for sharing this information.
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$200 or more 💰 "Thanks for sharing!" one person exclaimed.
Another TikTok user added, "This is so desperately needed information today."
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