I’m not usually one to go in for conspiracy theories, but there’s no doubt that solar and renewables are under political attack right now.

A recent study by Kantar Media concluded that 81% of political attack ads focused on solar and renewable energy. Here’s a video from SEIA summarizing the challenges we face.

Here’s a disappointing example of the mistruths and distortions being repeated in an example ad by none other than the Romney campaign.

Now the Sierra Club has added an important additional piece of information in a report titled Clean Energy Under Siege (.pdf) that documents the systematic and cynical nature of the attacks. The report provides clear documentation of the concentrated flow of funding behind the efforts from conservative activists. The report is definitely worth a close read by anyone following current political trends.

The reality is that wind and solar are have made historic progress in reducing costs and increasing penetration to the point where both are making real contributions to conventional energy markets. And most experts agree that despite the attacks, our energy future will involve a lot more of both (along with natural gas, of course).