The New Energy Solutions Are Ready

5 Interesting Renewable Energy Facts

Martina Igni, April 16, 2022 (Earth.Org)

“…In 2021, all mainstream clean energy sources – hydroelectric, solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal– generated a combined 38% of the world’s electricity. They surpassed the amount of energy produced from coal – which stopped at 36.5% in the same year despite a record 9% rise, the fastest yearly growth in coal energy generation since 1985…[That was largely because] global electricity demand grew by 5.4%, the biggest increase since 2010. Despite a record rise in wind and solar power generation, clean electricity has not been deployed quickly enough to keep up with the rapid increase of global demand…

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…[T]he fastest-growing sources of clean energy were wind and solar, whose share doubled since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015…For the first time, solar panels and wind turbines generated over 10% of the global electricity demand…and saw] an average of 20% compound growth per year…[But to meet the 1.5C pathway by 2030, those] high growth rates need to be maintained throughout the current decade…[Norway, Brazil, and New Zealand use over 80% clean energy and] 50 countries have now crossed the 10% wind and solar mark, with seven new countries doing so in 2021 alone: China, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Argentina, Hungary, and El Salvador…

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…[Renewables were the world’s cheapest energy source in 2020…[and] solar power schemes now offer the cheapest electricity in history…[The cost of large-scale solar projects has plunged 85% in the past decade… In 2020, onshore wind power dropped by about 13% while offshore wind costs decreased by about 9%...These low-cost, low-emission, infinite natural resources have the potential to pave the way for the world to reach a net-zero scenario by 2050…[But annual clean energy investments must increase] from less than USD$150 billion in 2020 to over USD$1 trillion by 2030…to achieve carbon neutrality…” click here for more

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