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Great Britain hits power milestone

As a nation, if we can hit a new power milestone as we did in May of this year; generating electricity for a whole fortnight without the use of coal since the industrial revolution, then what are we capable of in the future?

In April this year, the futurism.com reported that more electricity was generated from wind, solar, hydro, biomass and geothermal sources than any coal-fired plant. And in 2018, the UK generated 28% more renewable energy through solar and wind power. 

The top ten climate change leaders

The energy we use is changing, with more organisations and governments pushing renewable power sources. Below is a list of the top ten climate change leaders.

Country

Most Prominent Renewable Energy Sources

Renewable Energy Consumption in 2015

%

Renewable Energy Consumption Target for 2020 %

1.       Iceland

Hydro, Geothermal,

70.4

n/a

2.       Norway

Hydro, Wind

69.4

67.5

3.       Sweden

Hydro, Wind,

53.9

49.0

4.       Finland

Biofuel

39.3

38.0

5.       Latvia

Hydro

37.6

40.0

6.       Austria

Hydro, Wind

33.0

34.0

7.       Croatia

Hydro,

29.0

20.0

8.       Portugal

Wind, Solar, Hydro

28.0

31.0

9.       Estonia

Biofuel

28.6

25.0

10.   Romania

Biofuel, Photovoltaic

24.8

24.0

 

Created by Greenmatch

The United Kingdom is 25th on the list with renewable energy consumption in 2015 of 8.2% and a target for 2020 of 15% but a steep 75% for 2050. This could be improved vastly if we were to put a variety of efforts in place with the domestic and commercial sectors. By incorporating renewable energy sources into our daily needs via photovoltaic panels, ground or air source heat pumps and for those with more land around them; wind turbines, we’d see a significant improvement in these figures.

It’s important to note that we have seen incredible changes in our energy production in recent years. Since 1882 coal has been our main source for power, yet by 2018 it made up just 5% of our electricity generation – Over a 40% decline!

As explained in The Guardian, “Renewable sources with no direct carbon emissions, such as solar and wind power, accounted for 28% of electricity generation in 2018, according to the power company Drax. The British record for solar power has also been beaten this month. On 14 May the country generated 25% of its power from the sun.”

Interestingly, when looking at which countries produce the highest amount of clean energy, Germany comes out on top, utilising wind, biofuel and photovoltaic. Its renewable energy production is 40% greater than its closest rival; Italy.

 

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