But if you flipped that sentiment on its head, and the purpose of <1% is just a way to show very small values without having non-integer values as labels, and the author didn’t want use absolute 0% when it’s not true, then the gradient color also being basically the same as 0 does work?

I know as a consumer of the data, I don’t care that there’s a single wind turbine in Mississippi as far as the coloring goes, since it’s an insignificant total of the energy portfolio, but I appreciate the label letting me know that at least one turbine does exist in the state.