The global need for electricity has grown by four per cent since 2021, but in the first half of 2022 it has been possible to cover the rise in electricity consumption with green electricity. – The first step to change the expensive and polluting use of fossil fuels is to build enough sustainable energy to meet the world’s growing need for electricity, says Malgorzata Motyka, senior analyst at the green think tank Ember. And that job is in full swing, because the world has not released the 230 million tonnes of CO2 in the first half of 2022, which the increase in demand corresponds to. In other words, the world has saved five times Denmark’s annual emissions, because there have been more solar cells and wind turbines. This is revealed in a report from Ember, which analyzes data from 75 countries, which make up 90 percent of global electricity consumption. In total, renewable energy generated 28 percent of global electricity in the first half of 2022. War and climate But despite the good result from the first half of the year, the consumption of fossil fuels within the electricity sector rose by 1.7 percent in July and August. This is due, among other things, to a drought that brought China’s hydropower plants to a standstill and Russia’s war against Ukraine, which means that several countries keep their coal-fired power plants running, in order to avoid using Russian gas. Therefore, the report estimates that the consumption of coal may still reach a record high level this year, within the production of electricity. But the development of green solutions with wind turbines and solar cells is progressing quickly and is going faster than expected. – We have a solution: wind and sun are natural and cheap, and they cut both the price and CO2 emissions quickly, says Malgorzata Motyka.
ttn-70
Solar and wind cover the world’s growing hunger for electricity
