Since 2015, the share of solar and wind energy in the global energy industry has doubled, according to the Ember think tank. At present, it is about 10% of the total generated energy, approaching the level of nuclear power plants.
Alternative energy sources are gradually replacing coal, whose production fell by a record 2020% in the first half of 8,3 compared to the same period in 2019. Wind and solar power accounted for 30% of that decline, according to Ember, while much of the decline was due to the coronavirus pandemic reducing demand for electricity.
Ember's research covers 48 countries, accounting for 83% of global electricity production. In terms of the amount of electricity generated by wind and solar, the UK and the EU are now leading. Currently, these alternative energy sources account for 42% of energy consumption in Germany, 33% in the UK and 21% in the EU.
This is much higher than the top three carbon pollutants in the world: China, the US and India. In China and India, wind and solar power generates about a tenth of all electricity. Moreover, China accounts for more than half of all coal energy in the world.
In the US, about 12% of all electricity comes from solar and wind farms. Renewables will be the fastest growing source of electricity generation this year, according to a forecast released earlier this week by the US Energy Information Administration. In April 2019, total U.S. green energy surpassed coal for the first time, setting a record year for renewables. According to Reuters, by the end of 2020, the share of renewable energy and nuclear energy in the US electricity mix is expected to exceed that of coal.
All this is encouraging, but there is still a long way to go before reaching the goal set out in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement to prevent the planet from warming more than 1,5°C above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to reduce coal consumption by 13% annually over the next 10 years, and carbon dioxide emissions should practically disappear by 2050.
“The fact that coal production fell just 8% during the global pandemic shows how far we are still from achieving the goal,” said Dave Jones, senior analyst at Ember. “We have a solution, it works, but it’s not happening fast enough.”
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Source: 3dnews.ru