Why is renewable energy use growing

As a consequence, several countries are revising their data leading to an increase in their share of energy from renewable sources e. Croatia, France, Lithuania and Hungary. Energy production from non-renewable municipal wastes was deducted from the contribution of biomass to heating and electricity generation. Consumption for pipeline transport was included in gross final consumption of energy, in line with the sectoral classification of the Energy Statistics Regulation.

To improve accuracy and consistency with national statistics in calculating renewable energy shares, national calorific values were used, where available, for converting quantities of all energy products into energy units, instead of the default calorific values.

The values in these years are not used for any measurement of legislative compliance with the indicative trajectory defined in part B of Annex I of the Directive. It was decided that for the years all biofuels and bioliquids would be counted towards the numerator of the share of energy from renewable sources.

Data for onwards : Compliance with Article 17 Sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids has to be assessed with respect to Article 18 Verification of compliance with the sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids. As of reference year , countries are to report as compliant only those biofuels and bioliquids for which compliance with both Article 17 and Article 18 can be fully demonstrated.

Only reported compliant biofuels and bioliquids are counted towards the respective shares of renewables. While the share of renewable energy as a whole is increasing since , between and its share in transport decreased. This can be attributed in part to the total absence of compliant biofuels reported by several EU countries countries did report some biofuel use, but none or very little of it compliant in As some countries have not yet fully implemented all provisions of the Renewable Energy Directive, some biofuels and bioliquids are not counted as compliant sustainable in the period The share of electricity from renewable energy sources is defined as the ratio between electricity produced from renewable energy sources and gross national electricity consumption.

The Directive also requires electricity production from hydro power and wind power to be normalised. Given the year normalisation requirement for hydro power production and the availability of energy statistics for the EU, starting from , long time series of this indicator are not available.

For the purpose of calculating the share of renewable energy in heating and cooling , final consumption of energy from renewable sources is defined as the final consumption of renewable energy in industry, households, services, agriculture, forestry and fisheries for heating and cooling purposes, plus district heating produced from renewables. The total final consumption for heating and cooling is the final consumption of all energy commodities, except electricity, for purposes other than transport, plus the consumption of heat for own use at electricity and heat plants and heat losses in networks.

The contribution of all liquid biofuels is included within the calculation for this indicator until To achieve this, on 11 December the European Commission presented the European Green Deal COM final , the most ambitious package of measures that should enable European citizens and businesses to benefit from sustainable green transition. A record amount of over GW of renewable power capacity was added globally during Renewable ethanol and biodiesel transportation fuels made up more than 17 percent of total U.

Renewable Supply and Demand Renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source globally and in the United States. Globally: About Renewables made up 29 percent of global electricity generation by the end of Led by wind power and solar PV, more than GW of capacity was added in , an increase of nearly 10 percent in total installed renewable power capacity. In the United States: Almost 5 percent of the energy consumed across sectors in the United States was from renewable sources in Renewables made up Most of the increase is expected to come from wind and solar.

Non-hydro renewables have increased their share of electric power generation from less than 1 percent in to over Renewable Energy Drivers Factors affecting renewable energy deployment include market conditions e. Global weighted average levelized cost of electricity from utility-scale power generation technologies, and Policy Drivers Two federal tax credits have encouraged renewable energy in the United States: The production tax credit PTC , first enacted in and subsequently amended, was a corporate tax credit available to a wide range of renewable technologies including wind, landfill gas, geothermal, and small hydroelectric.

For eligible technologies, the utility received a 2. The PTC is currently being phased out; at the end of December , the PTC was extended for another year at 60 percent of the full credit amount, and facilities beginning construction after December 31, will no longer be able to claim this credit. The investment tax credit ITC is earned when qualifying equipment, including solar hot water, photovoltaics, and small wind turbines, are placed into service.

The credit reduces installation costs and shortens the payback time of these technologies. It will phase down to 10 percent in from 26 percent in Types of Renewable Energy Renewable energy comes from sources that can be regenerated or naturally replenished.

The main sources are: Water hydropower and hydrokinetic Wind Solar power and hot water Biomass biofuel and biopower Geothermal power and heating All sources of renewable energy are used to generate electric power.

Water Large conventional hydropower projects currently provide the majority of renewable electric power generation worldwide. Other Hydroelectric Power Generation Small hydropower projects, generally less than 10 megawatts MW , and micro-hydropower less than 1 MW are less costly to develop and have a lower environmental impact than large conventional hydropower projects.

Hydroelectric Power Generation. Source Environment Canada, Wind Wind was the second largest renewable energy source worldwide after hydropower for power generation. Source GE, Vox, Solar Solar energy resources are massive and widespread, and they can be harnessed anywhere that receives sunlight.

Solar energy can be captured for electricity production using: A solar or photovoltaic cell, which converts sunlight into electricity using the photoelectric effect. Typically, photovoltaics are found on the roofs of residential and commercial buildings. Additionally, utilities have constructed large greater than MW photovoltaic facilities that require anywhere from 5 to 13 acres per MW , depending on the technologies used.

In the United States, non-residential solar e. Concentrating solar power CSP , which uses lenses or mirrors to concentrate sunlight into a narrow beam that heats a fluid, producing steam to drive a turbine that generates electricity. Concentrating solar power projects are larger-scale than residential or commercial PV and are often owned and operated by electric utilities.

Although utility-scale CSP plants were in operation long before solar photovoltaics became widely commercialized, solar photovoltaics have largely taken over this market, due to their declining costs.

Global CSP capacity grew only 1. Concentrating Solar Power. Notes Solar collectors i. Source U. Biomass Biomass energy sources are used to generate electricity and provide direct heating, and can be converted into biofuels as a direct substitute for fossil fuels used in transportation.

Geothermal Geothermal provided an estimated TWh globally in , with 97 TWh in the form of electricity with an estimated Geothermal Power Station. Source BBC Science. Renewable Energy Indicators, Wind resources are abundant in the Great Plains, Iowa, Minnesota, along the spine of Appalachian Mountains, in the Western Mountains, and many off-shore locations.

Download arrow-down. Cite report Close dialog. Share this report Close dialog. Report options Close dialog. Next Electricity. Subscription successful Close dialog. Over the past decade, renewable energy consumption has grown at an average annual rate of Renewables were the only category of energy that grew globally at double digits over the past decade.

For perspective, in the world consumed 8. In , that had nearly quadrupled to The Review breaks the consumption of renewables into two broad categories. Over the past decade, hydroelectricity consumption grew at an average annual rate of 1. Globally, hydroelectricity represented 6.