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The UK generated 19.2% of its electricity from wind, solar, and hydropower in 2014. The country's demand for electricity has also fallen 10% over the last 5 years.
Change doesn't happen in a linear fashion.
Indeed, those of us who have been pushing for a low carbon future would have been forgiven for thinking it was a futile cause just a few years ago. Yet now, change seems to be picking up pace. Dramatically. The latest example of this is news from the UK, reported over at Business Green, that renewables made up 19.2% of the country's power supply last year, up from just 14.9% a year earlier. At the same time, both coal and nuclear dipped, while gas increased its share a little bit too. Digging into what those renewables actually were, it looks like wind and solar were up 16.6% on the previous year, due mainly to new capacity, while hydropower was up 26%. (This was the result of heavier rainfall, so can't necessarily be counted on year-over-year.)
We're going to be seeing many more stories like this in the next few years. It's already been reported that Germany generated 30% of its electricity from renewables in 2014. As industrialized countries, they could well find energy independence through renewables confers key competitive advantages and many positive externalities (such as better air quality). Will the United States ever follow suit?
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 02 2015, @01:46PM
No, biomass is different. It requires processing at centralized facilities and it can consume more energy to make and transport than it provides. I'm talking about pooping directly into the fuel tank of the car. The poopoo won't get flung at anyone because it's in the fuel tank, and there's a tight fitting cap on it to make sure that the poopoo doesn't come out. I know I wouldn't want to be driving behind somebody with a loose fuel tank cap, with their poopoo coming out and getting on my windshield! That's why the cap will be very tight fitting.