Good News For Climate Change: India Gets Out of Coal and Into Renewable Energy

[DEAD7]

Good News For Climate Change: India Gets Out of Coal and Into Renewable Energy



The reasons for this change are complex and interlocking, but one aspect in particular seems to stand out: The price for solar electricity has been in freefall, to levels so low they were once thought impossible. For example, since 2017, one solar energy company has been generating electricity in the Indian state of Rajasthan at the unheard-of, guaranteed wholesale price of 2.44 rupees per kilowatt-hour, or 3 U.S. cents. (In comparison, the average price for electricity in the United States is presently about 13.19 cents per kilowatt-hour, and some locations in the country pay far more....) Consequently, with this massive reduction in the cost of renewables, India is able to shift away from the world's dirtiest fossil fuel, and to much cleaner sources.

While western countries continue to baulk at reducing their reliance on fossil fuels, India is accelerating its plans to lock in a sustained, aggressive reduction in the carbon emissions intensity of its economy. In fact, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, is targeting a fivefold expansion of the electricity generated from renewable energy sources by 2030 -- and this from a country that has already doubled its renewable energy in the past three years. This means that India is committed to more than meeting the goals of its national contributions in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement; it is going to "overdeliver," in the parlance of economists... What's more, the Indian government's plans include a progressive expansion of electric vehicles, putting the country on a path to progressively reduce reliance on expensive, high emissions oil imports....

As India benefits from the shift to domestic renewable energy, other emerging market nations are watching, keen to leverage the same benefits for their own countries. And therein lies a key path to global decarbonization and a much-needed solution to limit global warming.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Even though his sectarian policies are pretty atrocious, I have to give credit where credit is due to his green policies. If he keeps this up, India may end up ahead of China.

 

[Strapped]

Isn't germany leading

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Isn't germany leading

In reduction of coal use? Or price of solar energy?

 

[Strapped]

In generated renewable energy wind/solar


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Blog Post Thursday 10 August 2017

12 Countries Leading the Way in Renewable Energy

You’ll be glad to know there’s hope for the planet yet. Despite a lack of political will in some countries, the move to renewable energy is pretty much inevitable and some scientists think it’s going to come sooner rather than later.

A recent study by Stanford University researchers predicted that the world could be powered entirely by renewable energy in just 20 to 40 years from now. And given that we already have the technology, it’s not that hard to imagine.

Almost 50 countries that would be adversely affected by climate change have agreed to make their energy production 100% renewable by the year 2050 and countries all over the world are actively embracing solar, wind, and geothermal energy.

Here we look at 12 countries in particular who are leading the way in the switch to renewable energy.

Iceland
Iceland generates the most clean electricity per person on earth, with almost 100% of its energy coming from renewable sources that make the most of its unique landscape. It now derives all of its energy for electricity and home heating from geothermal and hydroelectric power plants. Its renewable power plants like the geothermal plant at Blue Lagoon even draw significant amounts of tourists every year!

Sweden
Sweden has always had pretty good environmental credentials and in 2015, they threw down the gauntlet with an ambitious goal: eliminating fossil fuel usage within its borders. They also challenged the rest of the world to a race to become 100% renewable. They’ve increased their own investment in solar power, wind power, energy storage, smart grids, and clean transport.

Costa Rica
Because of its small size (just 4.9 million people) and unique geography (67 volcanoes), Costa Rica is able to meet a large part of its energy needs from hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, and wind sources. The country aims to be completely carbon-neutral by the year 2021 and has already achieved some impressive results, running on 100% renewable energy for more than two months twice in the last two years.

Nicaragua
Nicaragua is another Central American country where renewable energy is growing in importance. Like Costa Rica, they have a number of volcanoes, making geothermal energy production viable and thanks to government investment in wind, solar, and geothermal energy, their aim of being 90% renewables-powered by the year 2020 appears to be an achievable goal.

United Kingdom
The UK is a windy place and wind power is growing in importance. Using a combination of grid-connected wind farms and standalone turbines, the United Kingdom now generates more electricity from wind farms than from coal power plants. Some days, Scotland is able to produce enough wind power to supply over 100% of Scottish households. Neighbouring Ireland also continues to set new records, with enough energy to power more than 1.26 million homes being created on just one windy day in 2015.

Germany
For a cloudy country, Germany looks set for a bright future with solar energy. Their renewable energy output including solar has increased more than eightfold since 1990. In 2015, they set a record for meeting up to 78% of the country’s electricity demand with renewables on one highly productive day.

Uruguay
Uruguay is a shining example of how to do it right. Thanks to a supportive regulatory environment and a strong partnership between the public and private sector, the country has invested heavily in wind and solar power, without using subsidies or increasing consumer costs. And as a result, it now boasts a national energy supply that’s 95% renewables-powered, achieved in less than 10 years.

Denmark
Denmark aims to be 100% fossil-fuel-free by 2050 and it plans to use wind power to achieve that goal. They already set a world record in 2014, producing almost 40% of their overall electricity needs from wind power and the latest figures put them firmly on track to meet their first goal of obtaining 50% of their electricity from renewables by the year 2020.

China
They may be the world’s largest polluter, but China is also the world’s biggest investor in renewable energy, with huge investment levels both at home and overseas. China now owns: five of the world’s six largest solar-module manufacturing firms; the largest wind-turbine manufacturer; the world’s largest lithium ion manufacturer; and the world’s largest electricity utility. China is fully committed to reducing fossil fuel consumption and with its heavily polluted cities has every incentive for doing so.

Morocco
Morocco is a country with an abundance of sunshine (up to 350 days a year), so it has wisely decided to invest heavily in solar powered energy production. The first phase of the world’s biggest concentrated solar plant recently opened in Morocco and in combination with their wind and hydro production facilities, is predicted to produce enough energy for more than one million Moroccan households by 2018.

USA
The United States of America has one of the world’s largest installed solar PV capacities and an installed wind energy capacity second only to China. But it is also one of the world’s biggest energy consumers, which tends to cancel out much of its renewable capacity. Nevertheless, if more attention was paid to renewables over fossil fuels, it has been estimated that the U.S. could reduce its emissions by almost 80% in only 15 years, without impacting on consumer electricity costs.

Kenya
In the past, Kenya has been forced to import electricity from neighbouring countries, but they are working hard to reverse this by investing heavily in geothermal energy production, which accounted for more than half their energy mix in 2015. They also have Africa’s largest wind farm, providing another 20% of their installed electricity generating capacity.