Germany is planning to become the first G20 country that will generate its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050, being also a leader in this field. According to the Federal Environment Agency, this country currently produces about 16 percent of its electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources.
“A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view. It’s a very realistic target based on technology that already exists – it’s not a pie-in-the-sky prediction,” said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency.
As a world leader in photovoltaic production, Germany expects to add more than 5,000 megawatts of PV capacity this year, to reach a total of 14,000 megawatts of solar energy.
After the United States, Germany is also the second biggest wind power producer, and according to officials it has created about 300,000 renewable energy jobs during the last decade. The government has plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80-85 percent until 2050. About 40% of country’s greenhouse gases come from coal-fired power plants.
Besides the fact that switching to green electricity by 2050 would have economic advantages, it would create thousands of “green” jobs, too. “The costs of a complete switch to renewables are a lot less than the costs to future generations that climate change will cause,” Flasbarth said.
[Source: Guardian]
Being a practitioner of electrical engineering profession here in the Philippines, I am very much concern and hopeful for the massive development of renewable energies around the world. It is the best way to save our planet and to protect our environment from the accumulation of greenhouse gases that triggering the global warming…