On the global scale, renewable energy continues to grow by leaps and bounds. This past April saw an important milestone: for the first time ever, wind and solar power produced more electricity than natural gas did for a whole month.
Just five years ago, even in the best month for renewables, gas plants produced twice as much electricity as wind and solar combined. How things have changed. In April, wind and solar generated 532 terawatt-hours (that’s 532 million megawatt-hours) while gas contributed 477 terawatt-hours.
This was the first time this has happened for an entire month, but it will not be the last. Last year, the world met 75% of its new electricity demand with solar power. Other green energy made up much of the rest.
The ongoing war in the Middle East is only adding to the momentum for renewable energy. Supply shortages and price spikes for oil, gasoline, and liquified-natural gas are encouraging nations to increase their adoption of renewables in order to enhance their national energy security.
Even so, coal power remains the world’s largest source of electricity generation, accounting for about 35% of global electricity supply. But a combination of economic factors (renewables are cheaper than coal in most markets) and environmental concerns are causing the world to phase out coal at record rates. China and India are keeping coal generation on top globally for the time being even while they add lots of renewables. Despite there being a coal-loving administration in the U.S., it is only a matter of time before wind and solar surpass coal here as well.
