Booming U.S. Renewable Energy Sector Growing Faster Than Expected

picture-14309-1371183830.jpg
on

The mainstreaming of renewable energy is happening even faster than projected.

According to the latest โ€œElectric Power Monthlyโ€ report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which includes data through the end of 2014, some 13.91% of electricity generation in the U.S. last year was from renewable sources.

โ€œGiven current growth rates, especially for solar and wind, it is quite possible that renewable energy sources will reach, or exceed, 14% of the nation’s electrical supply by the end of 2015,โ€ noted Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign. โ€œThat is a level that EIA, only a few years ago, was forecasting would not be achieved until the year 2040.โ€

That number includes conventional hydroelectric power, which comes with severe environmental impacts of its own and is not generally considered a true โ€œclean energyโ€ source (the same can be said of biomass and biofuels, which is also included). So itโ€™s worth noting that 2014 was the first year that electricity generation from non-hydropower renewable energy sources exceeded hydroelectric generation.

Wind energy continues to be the biggest clean energy source by far, supplying some 4.45% of 2014 electricity generation in the U.S. versus .45% from solar and .41% from geothermal. But solar is making great strides, seeing more than 100% growth last year while wind grew just 8.3% and geothermal by justย 5.4%.

Coal and nuclear energy grew by .3% and 1%, respectively, while natural gas actually dropped, as did hydropower.

The EIA does not fully track rooftop solar energy generation, so these numbers understate solarโ€™s contribution to the U.S. energy mix. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, there are nearly 600,000 homes and businesses generating their own energy through solar systems.

In fact, in 2014, a new solar project was installed every 3 minutes, the SEIA says.

The rise of rooftop solar systems has led to major benefits for the environment and the economy, but does not sit well with traditional utility companies who see their monopolies on providing electricity slipping away.

High-profile corporatists like the Walton family and the Koch Brothers have begun to attack the distributed energy generation model altogether, as have the utilitiesโ€”though in many cases, the utilities have decided itโ€™s easier to co-opt the business modelย than to fight it.

In fact, efforts to beat back the advance of solar energy have become so aggressive that itโ€™s now described as a โ€œwar on solarโ€โ€”a riff on the โ€œwar on coalโ€ meme, except the war on solar is real and has drastic implications for the future.
ย 

Image Credit: kongsky /ย Shutterstock.com

picture-14309-1371183830.jpg
Mike Gaworecki is a San Francisco-based journalist who writes about energy, climate, and forest issues for DeSmogBlog and Mongabay.com. His writing has appeared on BillMoyers.com, Alternet, Treehugger, Change.org, Huffington Post, and more. He is also a novelist whose debut โ€œThe Mysticistโ€ came out via FreemadeSF inย 2014.

Related Posts

on

DCI Groupโ€™s 2024 clients include the American Petroleum Institute, which has a history of undermining the scientific consensus on climate change.

DCI Groupโ€™s 2024 clients include the American Petroleum Institute, which has a history of undermining the scientific consensus on climate change.
on

The Reform UK leader baselessly suggested that farms were being cleared to make way for immigrants.

The Reform UK leader baselessly suggested that farms were being cleared to make way for immigrants.
on

The AER significantly underreports the number and scale of spills, says researcher Kevin Timoney.

The AER significantly underreports the number and scale of spills, says researcher Kevin Timoney.
Analysis
on

Poilievre has clearly not earned enough respect from the Trump administration to credibly defend Canadaโ€™s interests.

Poilievre has clearly not earned enough respect from the Trump administration to credibly defend Canadaโ€™s interests.