A New Energy Growth Overview

How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy? There’s a lot of hype and confusion about carbon-free energy sources. Here’s a look at five of them: how much they produce, what they cost, and what obstacles they face.

Jennifer Hiller and David Hodari, November 10, 2021 (Wall Street Journal)

“…Electricity generation from coal, oil and natural gas represented 60% of all power generated world-wide this year, down from 67% in 2010…That is likely to drop to 42% to 48% by 2030…[Each alternative] has its own potential, and its own obstacles…The photovoltaic cells used in solar panels convert sunlight directly into electricity…Lower costs have boosted utility-scale projects and interest from consumers in rooftop installations… The Energy Department says the U.S. now gets just 3% of its power from solar sources. Globally, just 4% percent of power generation this year is from solar, up from 1.4% five years ago…Global installations will likely increase 20% this year to 175 gigawatts…

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Creating energy by splitting atoms is also an established technology, but has fallen out of favor in recent years due to safety concerns and cost overruns at new plants…Now that countries are seeking to transition to cleaner energy, nuclear power is getting a second look in many parts of the globe… About 10% of global commercial electricity production came from nuclear power in 2020…[Nuclear power] is expected to remain among the most expensive forms of power generation to build. The global levelized cost for new construction rose to around $74 per megawatt-hour this year from $66 five years ago…

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Wind electricity is produced when the force from moving air spins a turbine blade around a rotor, which spins a generator. Turbines are grouped together in large installations onshore as well as offshore…Wind provides about 7% of the world’s electricity, a share projected to at least double by 2030…Installations last year reached a record 93 gigawatts, up 53% from 2019…[A]round 88 gigawatts of installation is still expected in 2021…[Geothermal wells tap steam or hot water from rock in the earth’s mantle] to generate electricity by using steam to turn a turbine…[Heat] is 50% of our energy consumption…

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Geothermal plants provide less than 1% of the world’s electricity, but…An estimated 180 wells are being drilled each year for power generation, and that number is expected to rise to 500 [globally] by 2025… About 6% of California’s electricity comes from geothermal, and new projects are being planned that would pair geothermal power with lithium mining…Venture-capital deals for geothermal rose to $146.5 million globally by mid-October…up from just $13.3 million in deals five years ago…

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Hydrogen is increasingly seen as a viable clean-energy source for transportation—in trucks, planes and ships…because conventional batteries either weigh too much or hold a charge for too little time for long-haul voyages…[It] can also supplant fossil fuels in household heating and industrial processes like steelmaking that require sustained high temperatures…[and stored] by using excess electricity, often solar or wind power, to run machines known as electrolyzers that strip water molecules of their hydrogen—which is easier to store in tanks and caverns than electricity is to store in batteries…” click here for more

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