US renewable electricity output

As renewable electricity output has grown, candle sales have also grown, a correlation of 0.979 that sounds ironic—a nation producing more clean electricity is also buying more candles, which are literally tiny unclean fires—but actually makes perfect sense when you realize nobody is burning candles for light. They are burning them for ambiance, which is a different economy entirely.

Candle sales jumped in 2020 as locked-down households leaned hard into cozy-at-home aesthetics, while US renewable generation continued its policy-driven rise even as overall electricity demand briefly fell. The correlation isn't causal — it's two unrelated trends that both happened to look steepest in the year everyone was home more.

Twenty years of renewables and candles is a correlation between two forms of fire: one industrial and clean, the other decorative and smoky. The nation generates more clean electricity and burns more scented wax because both activities serve the same aspirational consumer lifestyle. The turbine spins. The wick glows. The coefficient does not distinguish between the two.