For my first article since hurricanes Harvey and Katrina, I could have written another article on how not solving climate change would cost us trillions of dollars. Instead, here is an article that shows that despite what deniers and others naysayers are telling us, doing so could actually be pretty cheap.
Wind power
Wind power to bounce back in 2014
According to Treehugger : ” At the end of 2013, the wind farms installed in more than 85 countries had a combined capacity of 318,000 megawatts, which would be enough to meet the residential electricity needs of the European Union.” ” New data from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) show that wind developers built … Read more
Wind energy was top energy source in Spain in 2013
Many European nations have seen a boom in their renewable energy sources in the past few years. Among them is Spain. Here is the introduction to an article on that topic I wrote for Cleantechies : ” 2013 was an excellent year for wind energy in Spain as this renewable energy source became the first … Read more
Global wind capacity grew by 12.5 % in 2013
To Enerdata ” global wind capacity increased by 12.5% in 2013, reaching 318,137 MW. During the year, 35,467 MW were installed worldwide, which is almost 10 GW below capacity additions in 2012. “
” US installations were badly impacted by a policy gap created by the US Congress in 2012; in Europe, installations grew by a modest 8%, and were pulled by two countries, Germany and the United Kingdom. “
” Installations soared in China (+16.1 GW, i.e. +21% to 91.4 GW), in Canada (+1.6 GW, i.e. +26%, to 7.8 GW) and in Australia (+655 MW, i.e. + 25%, to 3.2 GW). “
United Kingdom got 10 % of its electricity from wind
We have seen in the previous years that the United Kingdom has been investing heavily on wind energy. In 2013 the country started the world’s largest offshore wind farms such as the London Array. It seems these efforts are paying off as no less than ten percent of the electricity demand in the country was … Read more
Wind could account for 18% of global electricity by 2050
The electricity mix of 2050 is getting a bit clearer. To the International Energy Agency analysts, wind power could be behind 18 percent of the global electricity mix by mid century. This has to be compared to a tiny 2.6 percent to date.
As the IEA notes : ” The nearly 300 gigawatts of current wind power worldwide must increase eight- to ten-fold to achieve the roadmap’s vision with the more than USD 78 billion in investment in 2012 progressively reaching USD 150 billion per year. “
A 2009 document from this agency forecast 12 percent of wind power by 2050. I wonder what the IEA will forecast in 2016… Several factors explain this important increase.
United States emissions decreased by 3.8 percent in 2012
According to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA, how confusing…), the national energy-related carbon dioxide emissions declined by 3.8 percent last year, thus reaching their levels of 1994 while the economy grew.
Many factors contributed to this drop in emissions. Among them are a warmer winter, a more efficient economy (notably new mileage for cars), less miles driven and a switch from dirty coal to cleaner natural gas and renewables.
The latter, including wind power, seem to have had a very limited role in this trend. This is why it’s important to increase our efforts in the clean energy transition.
An American wind energy revolution
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published on its website a series on infographics and a great animation showing how wind energy is rapidly gaining pace and its capacity is booming.
In 2003, there were 185 wind farms online, powering the equivalent of 1.6 million homes ; in 2008, there were 416 wind farms online powering 6.5 million homes. In 2012 there were 815 wind farms online powering 15 million US homes.
Yes, you read that right : in ten years the capacity increased ten-fold. Since President Obama took office, the capacity has been multiplied by more than two.
Worth an article – my May and June 2013 tweets
uh oh ! I totally forgot to publish a review of my most interesting news on Twitter for both May and June ! Lucky you, here is this long awaited for selection. As usual, each tweet could have been the subject of a full article.
Given this selection I believe it is safe to say we are reaching tipping points for both the seriousness of our multiple crises and in some way, how we are starting to address some of them (mostly climate change).
I believe this selection of news offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, don’t hesitate to start following me.
Renewables are surging much faster than thought
A close observer of renewable energy markets I am amazed at how fast they are growing around the world. Many countries are banking on them to get out of the current triple crisis.
Even if the efforts being done are lacking the necessary scale, results are very encouraging. Portugal is getting 70 percent of its electricity from hydro and wind, Spain over a half of electricity came from clean sources as well.
In Germany, solar can provide up to 22 GW, or 44 % of the total demand. In Australia, one in eleven houses have solar panels installed.