carbon-intensive forms of electricity generation
Here, renewable energy has slowly eaten into the proportion of energy generated by fossil fuels, while all other energy sources (nuclear, hydro, biomass) have remained about the same. In Asia, electricity permintaan has tripled since the 2000s, with the bulk of this energy coming from fossil fuels.
Wind and solar are replacing coal and gas
Western economies have made progress in replacing fossil fuels (and coal in particular) with renewables during the last decade. In Europe and North America, wind has become a penting energy source during the winter months when energy permintaan peaks. And when the wind isn't blowing, gas generation fills the gaps.
Solar energy, when combined with batteries which can toko excess electricity, is also proving to be a cheaper pilihan than both gas and coal in certain parts of the world. In Australia, the industry association Australian Clean Energy Council found that solar panels and batteries are 30% cheaper than gas power plants during peak permintaan periods.
A Bloomberg NEF investigation found that batteries alone are already cheaper than gas power plants during these times. In fact, solar panels may be generating electricity more cheaply than the grid in some cases.
In India, the biaya of generating electricity from solar and storing it in batteries to use during high permintaan hours has lower costs than existing coal plants. Combined solar and baterai plants can activate during peak hours and turn off again when permintaan drops, regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun shining.
In the US, almost half of new energy proyeks waiting to connect to the grid combine solar and wind with penyimpanan technologies, allowing renewables to produce electricity on permintaan regardless of the weather.
Energy permintaan is outpacing wind and solar
Wind and solar has only slowed the rise in fossil fuel burning. This is particularly true for China, India, Thailand and Vietnam. These economies have grown rapidly and so has their power permintaan.
The replacement with renewables in developed economies is too slow to offset this increase on a global scale. Cooling economic activity in Asia - especially China - might reverse this tren, making a replacement pattern similar to Europe and North America feasible.
