100% Renewable Energy for the World: Possible and It's Happening
100% Renewable Energy for the World: Possible and It's Happening
More countries joining the 100% renewable energy club
California produced more than 100% of electrical demand using wind, solar, and hydro for the 7th day in a row this week.
That’s a big deal considering Cali has 39 million people and is the 5th-largest economy in the world, behind only the economies of the U.S., China, Japan, and Germany.
Need-to-Know: Renewable Energy Could End Air Pollution and Solve the Climate Crisis
Four years ago I wrote a very popular Need-to-Know article: Possible and Doable: 100 Per Cent Renewable Energy for the World
A few relevant paras:
The Need-to-Know in 2021 is that in less than ten years electricity from solar, wind, and water could power the entire world according to leading energy experts. Yes, they do mean every country in the world.
It would be an enormous effort and cost a few trillion dollars. The Need-to-Know here is that’s just 1-2% of global GDP annually. Based on two decades of research, powering the world on renewables is doable by 2030 say the Global 100 per cent RE Strategy Group, an international coalition of engineers, energy economists, and scientists.
In a world powered entirely by green energy, air pollution from fossil fuel use responsible for one in five deaths every year would vanish, and the climate crisis would largely be solved.
Studies show that creating a new 100 percent renewable energy system would stimulate investments of trillions of dollars and create millions more jobs than those lost worldwide.
Here’s a brief update on the progress to 100% renewables.
As I mentioned last month, wind and solar produced a record 27% of the European Union’s electricity in 2023—more electricity than from its fossil gas plants. (Take that Putin!)
Building new solar capacity in Europe is 10 times cheaper than operating gas-fired power plants in the long term. Building new solar or wind in the US is now cheaper than operating its coal plants.
Need-to-Know: Texas is going all in on green energy. Texas!
Texas has 20% renewable electricity which has saved $31.5 billion in energy costs between 2010 and 2022 compared to using fossil gas or coal. Renewables also saved nearly 250 billion gallons of water and reduced air pollution saving $10s of billions in healthcare costs, according to a new report. Almost all future energy projects in Texas will be renewable.
Need-to-Know: Wind and solar went from near zero to 15% of global power in 20 years.
Wind and solar together make up the fastest-growing source of electricity in history. Twenty years ago, they accounted for less than one percent of global power. By the end of last year, it had surged to 15%. At the COP28 meeting in Dubai, the world agreed to triple installed renewables by 2030.
Sweden, Norway, Costa Rica, and Uruguay are among the 11 countries with 90 to 100% renewable electricity.
Need-to-Know: More countries are joining the 100% renewable electricity club
Germany, the UK, the US, and many other countries plan to use 100% renewable electricity by 2035.
And so on…
Despite all this, there’s a misinformation campaign against renewable energy funded by fossil fuel interests, in partnership with conservative media. Thousands of ads on Facebook, Twitter, paid social-media influencers, and commercial advertising pump out anti-renewable myths such as wind turbines making people sick, exploding electric vehicle batteries, toxic solar panels, and others.
Need-to-Know: Plenty of lies and myths about clean energy
The most recent misinfo efforts say renewables can't generate all the energy we need; they’re expensive and subsidized; there aren’t enough materials to build them; they can’t be integrated into the electrical grid; etc.
Another popular myth is how much land will be needed without pointing out that the fossil fuel industry uses 100X more land than renewables ever would. (Not to mention the fact that 40% of ocean shipping is used to move fossil fuels around the world.)
I’m not going to refute all those lies and myths. Many others have already done so. Here are a few worth checking out:
5 Renewable Energy Myths Debunked
Media Brief: Addressing common myths around renewable power
Until next time, be safe.
Stephen
P.S.
For our new house, we ordered a Carrier cold-climate heat pump, which can provide heat at ambient temperatures down to -30 degrees C. At colder temperatures, a backup heat source is required, so we requested a furnace with electric heating elements that would kick in as needed. Unbelievably, the HVAC contractor told us that the heat loss calculations indicated that an electric furnace was not adequate, and that a higher level of insulation would have been required to accommodate electric heat. This ridiculous argument went back and forth for some time, until we finally gave up, since we were told the house would not pass inspection without a natural gas furnace. Ugh!
Thank you Stephen for your continued efforts to share pertinent information that shapes our future on this beautiful blue planet. I love that I can quote you with confidence to the naysayers and fence sitters. I appreciate your research and desire to contribute to the chaos of information with a sane voice !!