E2: Big Beautiful Bill cost US nearly 500,000 clean energy jobs

A new analysis from the environmental business group E2 finds that the federal law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has cost the country nearly half a million clean energy jobs and roughly $90 billion in investment since it passed last year. The report, done by BW Research, looked at solar, wind, battery storage, and electric vehicle projects that were cancelled or scaled back. Energy storage lost the most jobs, more than 42,000, followed by solar at 33,000 and electric vehicles at almost 28,000. Nationwide, full-time solar jobs dropped by 19,000 and storage jobs by 64,000 after the law passed.

The cancelled or narrowed projects add up to about 10 gigawatts of lost solar capacity, 9 gigawatts of storage, and 3.75 gigawatts of wind. Had these projects gone forward, they could have generated an estimated $55 billion a year in electricity value, plus nearly $32 billion in tax revenue for local governments, schools, and services.

Separately, a Wood Mackenzie report found that federal permitting changes and funding pullbacks have halted or cancelled 7 gigawatts of renewable projects on federal land, with another 12 gigawatts at risk, and nearly a third of the solar project pipeline now facing added review.

For homeowners, this doesn't change any individual rebate or upgrade directly, but it points to a slower, more uncertain buildout of clean power and battery projects nationally, which can affect electricity supply and costs over time.