但美国在 2025 年与全球趋势相反，据 Solar Energy Industries Association 与 Wood Mackenzie，太阳能装置较前一年减少 14%。即便如此，太阳能仍占美国新增电源的 54%，与电池储能合计为 79%，远高于天然气 8%；成长放缓主要与 Donald Trump 全政府式的清洁能源政策回撤有关，同时也受地方反对所拖累，像密西根州 St. Clair County 以健康顾虑（噪音、景观污染、污物风险）限制乡村土地新建。
反对者主要质疑噪音、外观、毒性、电磁场和退役，作者逐条回应：逆变器与变压设备约 70 dBA（可与窗式空调相当），场址附近约 30 dBA（约耳语声），离设备 100 英尺（30.5 公尺）后即接近背景音；可作为比较的是拖拉机可达 100 dBA。离逆变器 9 英尺（2.7 公尺）时电磁场几乎降为零，与家用冰箱、微波炉等日常暴露相当。电池与面板中的铅、镉含量很低且被玻璃封装，Columbia Law School 称面板中的镉毒性约为普通镉的 1/100，太阳能废弃物可回收、厂商多有拆除修复债券，且与煤灰等高毒垃圾相比为小量；相比之下，燃煤与油气外溢导致重金属渗漏、甲烷排放与更高气候风险，可能造成上百万人命与兆级美元的损失。
This article contrasts scientific breakthroughs with persistent scientific mistrust and then focuses on solar power as a central case. In 2025, global solar generation added 636 terawatt-hours (TWh), up 30% year on year, according to Ember. This was the fastest annual growth among energy sources on record except the temporary post-COVID rebound in coal use. New solar covered three-quarters of global incremental energy demand, while over the past decade total solar output rose tenfold, averaging 27% annual growth.
In the United States, however, 2025 diverged from the global pattern: installations fell 14% from the previous year (SEIA and Wood Mackenzie). Solar still represented 54% of new U.S. energy additions, with solar plus battery storage reaching 79%, far above natural gas at 8%. The slowdown is tied to Donald Trump’s whole-of-government climate policy rollback and local resistance, including in St. Clair County, Michigan, where county health officials used concerns over noise, visual impacts, and toxic-waste risk in 2025 to tighten permitting for rural solar builds.
Critics of solar cite noise, aesthetics, toxins, electromagnetic fields, and end-of-life cleanup. The article counters with quantified comparisons: inverter and related equipment noise is about 70 dBA (similar to a window air conditioner), roughly 30 dBA at rural farms, and near background around 100 feet (30.5 meters) away; a tractor can reach 100 dBA. EMF from an inverter falls nearly to zero at 9 feet (2.7 meters), comparable to normal household appliances. Hazardous material content in modules is low and encapsulated; Columbia Law School reports panel cadmium toxicity as about one-hundredth that of ordinary cadmium. Solar waste is typically recyclable and decommissioning is often backed by bonds, with waste scale far lower than highly toxic coal ash, while fossil systems impose larger external costs through heavy-metal leaching, methane, abandoned wells, and climate damage that can translate into millions of deaths and trillions of dollars of lost productivity.