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from the The-answer-is-blowin'-in-the-wind dept.
The International Energy Agency [IEA] says that the world's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has now overtaken coal.
The IEA says in a new report that last year, renewables accounted for more than half of the increase in power capacity.
The report says half a million solar panels were installed every day last year around the world. In China, it says, there were two wind turbines set up every hour.
Renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and hydro are seen as a key element in international efforts to combat climate change. At this stage, it is the capacity to generate power that has overtaken coal, rather than the amount of electricity actually produced. Renewables are intermittent - they depend on the sun shining or the wind blowing, for example, unlike coal which can generate electricity 24 hours a day all year round. So renewable technologies inevitably generate a lot less than their capacity.
Even so it is striking development.
The IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol said "We are witnessing a transformation of global power markets led by renewables".
Link to original BBC story: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37767250
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:40PM
Germany is getting about 1/3 of its electricity from renewables now. They're at a much higher latitude than the US, and their insolation is much worse. They have seasons, including winter, they have mountains, and I think we can agree that they're a modern, industrialized country with industries that need a lot of electricity and a people who do not live in mud huts and read by the light of a tallow lamp. They're doing all that, and their economy is still in good shape.
So if the Germans can do it, why can't the United States? What further objection can be whisked out that the Germans have not already disproven?
The Germans are doing themselves geopolitical favors that will pay deep dividends through the coming tumult. The strategic vulnerability of fossil fuels, which has already bitten them several times, won't remain at all much longer for them. They'll have a predictable, much more stable energy supply that they can factor into their planning for business and government. All the money they have previously paid to prop up foreign bottom lines will become coin in their own purse. If the US did the same, the $365 billion we spend every year for just foreign oil would be an economic stimulus for the American economy. Every year. That would be really good.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:27PM
Yep, we could free Billions to spend on more weapons to still protect those countries we currently get oil from. Because Congress logic.