Good news for renewable electric generation

From Katharine Hayhoe's newsletter this week:

" During extreme heat, air conditioning use and electricity demand spikes: so it’s very good news that renewables generated a full 30 percent of electricity worldwide last year, according to the Global Electricity Review 2024. When you add in nuclear power, the amount of electricity from carbon-free sources jumps to 40 percent globally. “A new era of falling fossil generation is imminent. 2023 was likely the pivot point,” the report’s executive summary says. 

 

China led the way, accounting for 51 percent of new solar and 60 percent of new wind worldwide in 2023. Last year alone, China installed more solar energy than the U.S. has in its entire history. In Texas, where I live, solar also outpaced coal for the first time ever this March and it’s the economics of clean energy that are turning the tide.

As the Financial Times explains: “It’s not that politics don’t matter. But economics, which shape politics, can turn even the biggest climate change skeptic into a clean energy evangelist.” And a new study agrees: researchers found the increase in wind and solar generation from 2019 to 2022 generated $250 billion in climate and air quality benefits in the U.S. alone."

Source: "Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe"

Did you notice that China led the  way for new solar and wind worldwide? Pretty amazing that they've got their industries working to have renewable energy sources...compared to the stuck-in-the-mud folks that believe various tall tales about wind and solar energy. (More below about the myths around wind and solar...and more!)

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In addition to the above, she gives a link to a report of "Rebutting the 33 False Claims about Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles."

HERE by Columbia Law School's Sabine Center for Climate Change Law

The abstract says:

Achieving the United States’ ambitious emissions reduction goals depends in large part on the rapid adoption of wind and solar energy and the electrification of consumer vehicles. However, misinformation and coordinated disinformation about renewable energy is widespread and threatens to undermine the transition. In this report, the Sabin Center identifies and examines 33 of the most pervasive false claims about solar energy, wind energy, and electric vehicles, with the aim of promoting a more informed discussion.

 

I downloaded the 68 page very academic report, but here are screenshots of the table of contents if you should like to look further.

I do like having a more scientific approach to understanding these claims. 

I'm also watching Maria Curie's sort-of-life movie "Radioactive," this evening, so science is high in my thoughts right now. But the movie also puts a lot of emphasis on the dangers of nuclear uses.

Today's quote:

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

THORNTON WILDER