Despite the push for clean energy sources over the past couple years, it is still easy to get discouraged by climate change.
There is still so much we have to do and it still seems so far away. We all know that a couple of wind farms or solar panels aren’t going to do much good. However, by 2020, alternative energy will provide 26% of the world’s electricity, according to the International Agency.
The respected energy advisory group published a report this year which concluded that in just five years, over a quarter of energy needs will be met by renewables.
According to the report, that’s enough electricity to power the entire country of Japan.
The encouraging news is partly due to the fact that two-thirds of new energy sources over the next five years will be clean.
With fossil fuel stock prices dropping like crazy, it’s not really so surprising after all. Even the countries that need the most power, such as China and India, may peak soon in their installments of new installments of coal and natural gas.
International Energy Agency Executive Director, Faith Birol, warns that though the news is good, it’s “hardly a time for complacency”. She believes that governmental action in particular is crucial during this time of uncertainty for the renewables market. Some scientists have concluded that the entire globe could reach 100% clean energy by 2050, but that the current rates of installation are far too low to achieve that goal.
Still, the news is, as the report says, “a remarkable shift in a very limited period of time”. As Brian Merchant writes in a Motherboard article on the report, it is nice to see that people are actually taking steps to address climate change and find clean energy sources.
For now, that’s enough.
