The Future of Solar: US Energy Production Attributes 20% to Renewable Energy
Posted on May 16, 2022
The US might not be the ideal country to implement its renewable energy pledges effectively, but it has achieved a significant 20% renewable energy generation in powering the entire country. It’s not the best figure out there, but it’s a huge step towards building a nation dependent on renewable energy production and a testament to solar energy efficiency.
This increase in renewable energy use has been noted since 2015. The US produced 5.7% of its energy using renewable sources like wind and solar farms. In 2021, this number jumped to 13%, ending with a recent report in May 2022 that the country has produced 20% of its energy using wind and solar farms. Many experts project both wind and solar technologies as the backbones of the future’s renewable energy sources.
To achieve Net Zero, which can use the US’ current model and achievement, 20% of the world must use renewable energy sources to stop global warming and find ways to reverse it. According to experts, the US’ achievement of 20% serves as a model and testament to the modern world’s hope of breaking free from coal-produced electricity.
Learn more about the US’ renewable energy consumption from a Solar Power World online report excerpt below.
For the first time, the United States generated 20% of its electricity from solar power and wind in April, according to a study conducted by climate think tank Ember. The record is being driven by a wind boom in the Great Plains and Midwest, across states like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and North and South Dakota.
In 2015, the United States generated 5.7% of its electricity from wind and solar (229.8 TWh). By 2021, it had more than doubled to reach 13% of its electricity from wind and solar (543.5 TWh).
The trend reflects the global acceleration towards wind and solar energy, which have doubled since 2015 to deliver a record tenth of global electricity in 2021, according to Ember’s Global Electricity Review.
Wind and solar were the fastest-growing forms of electricity worldwide for the seventeenth year in a row in 2021 and are projected to be the backbone of the future electricity system.
Many European countries already produced more than a quarter of their electricity from wind and solar in 2021, including Germany, Spain and the U.K. (Continue reading)
