Clean Energy Quiz

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (2016) in Marrakesh, Morocco, 48 countries, who are members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, pledged to use only renewable energy by 2050. These countries are often those who are and will be affected by climate change the most. Some of the countries who committed include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Guatemala, and Vietnam.

While some places in the United States have run on 100% renewable energy, such as Burlington, Vermont, the entirety of the country has not.  Some countries that have include Denmark, who ran entirely on wind for a day, Portugal,  who ran on wind, solar, and hydropower for four days, and Costa Rica, who was powered by renewable energy for more than 100 days.

In 2016, world coal production fell by 6.2%, which was considered to be a record amount. A decrease in coal consumption in the United States and China led to a decreased amount of coal production. 2016 was the second year in a row that coal saw a decline. Alternatively, electricity from renewable energy increased by 12% last year, which was the fastest growing source. Renewable energy “now accounts for 4 percent of primary energy production worldwide.”

According to the US Energy Information Administration, renewable energy sources, which re-generate, consist of biomass, hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar.

Fossil fuels and the fossil fuel industry have many negative impacts.  Some are direct and easily visible, such as pollution and land degradation. Others may not be so obvious. For example, human health can be at risk. Coal miners may develop black lung disease, or communities near transportation routes may be exposed to coal dust. Local communities may be at risk in terms of health, but extraction techniques such as surface mining can also increase the amount of mudslides, landslides, and flash floods.

Renewable energy sources actually require less land.  About 1.15-1.2% of the world’s land is needed for renewable energy production, whereas oil and gas take up 1-2%. This 1-2% does not include refineries, pipelines, or coal/nuclear infrastructure. Renewable sources like solar don’t run out, so the same land can be used indefinitely. Similarly, new solar panels could be installed on the same land if they wear out.

In 2016, 10% of total energy consumption in the United States came from renewable sources. The United States also generated about 15% of its electricity from renewable sources.

In 2016, more than half of electricity generation capacity that was added to the grid in the United States came from renewable sources. 60% of this came from solar and wind. According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the US solar market is expected to triple in size over the next five years.

According to a roadmap created by scientists, by 2050, nearly 140 countries could run on energy created solely from wind, solar, water power. This is more than 70% of the world’s countries. Doing so could help avoid more dangerous global warming, while also preventing millions of premature deaths and generating jobs.

While both states have different models, California and Hawaii have committed to “a future of renewable electricity.”  Hawaii aims to get there by 2045, while California has an approach that would require that 60% of their electricity energy is from renewables by 2030 and the other 40% “under a “zero-carbon” requirement” by 2045.