Nations around the world are doubling down on renewable energy. Last week, Japan announced it is raising its 2030 green energy goals – aiming for 36 to 38% of the country’s power coming from renewables. And earlier this month, the European Union made a similar commitment, aiming to reach 40% renewable power by 2030. But where does the U.S. stand when it comes to prioritizing renewable energy sources?
Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, told Texas Standard renewable sources made up 22.5% of U.S. power generation in the first third of 2021.
“To put that in context, wind and solar have grown over the past decade from just over 3% in the first four months of 2011, to 13.9% so far this year,” Smith said.
Highlights from this segment:
– Nearly half of the renewable energy being used to generate power in the U.S. comes from hydropower and geothermal sources.
– The Biden administration wants the U.S. to generate 80% of its power from renewable sources by 2030.
– High natural gas prices could allow renewable sources to provide the largest share of power in Texas in the fourth quarter of 2021.
– The growth of renewables each year is not enough to overtake continued growth in the use of fossil fuels to generate power.
