Clean Energy Capacity Grew at a Record Pace in 2019, U.N. Report Finds. But it Needs to Grow Even Faster

The world’s renewable power capacity grew at a faster rate last year than ever before, while the cost of adding new capacity fell to a record low, says a U.N. Environment Program report released June 10. Researchers found that in 2019, governments and companies created 184 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable power capacity —12% more than was added in 2018. That increase came despite investment in the sector rising by just 1%, to $282.2 billion, meaning clean power capacity was cheaper to create per watt. (The report does not include the older technology of large hydropower dams because such projects are not subject to the same market dynamics as newer renewable sources, and their long development-time scales make investments hard to measure precisely.) Renewable energy, like wind and solar power, is becoming cheaper thanks to improving technology, growing economies of scale, and fierce competition in the sector. For example, in the second half of 2019, it cost 83% less to generate electricity from solar plants than it did 10 years earlier, according to the report. Generating more electricity from renewable sources—which, unlike fossil fuels, do not emit greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere—is essential to preventing the worst effects of climate change. Currently 13.4% of global electricity is generated from renewable sources. That’s up from 12.4% in 2018 and 5.9% in 2009, according to the U.N. However,...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change Londontime Source Type: news