Currently renewable energy accounts for just under 25% of all primary energy generated globally, and most of the electricity we use is still generated by burning fossil fuels.
Around 60 to 70 percent of the renewable energy generated globally is generated through the burning of biomass, which includes wood, or agricultural and forestry waste. Though biomass energy is classified as renewable, it does not fall under the category of “modern renewables”
Modern Renewables
Of all modern renewable energy sources, hydro generation is by far the most successful to date and accounts for around 70% of all modern renewable energy generated globally. Other renewable sources such as wind, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and waste to energy technologies make up the remaining percentage. Renewable energy consultants are implementing value improvement and yield optimisation programmes across the globe that make renewable energy companies more profitable, this can in turn draw in fresh investment and will hopefully lead to an increase in the percentage of primary energy generated by modern renewables.
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power currently generates around 14% of the world’s energy, though some countries rely more heavily on nuclear power than others. The United States of America draws just 20% of its energy from nuclear power plants, whilst France generates 75% of its total electricity this way. China has the lowest dependency on nuclear power of any nuclear nation and depends on nuclear power for just under 2% of its total energy requirements. Following the disaster at Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in Japan, a number of nations are reconsidering their use of nuclear power altogether.
Steam Coal
Steam coal or thermal coal is currently used to generate 73% of the world’s electricity. Brown coal is a finite resource, and our reserves are being quickly depleted, it therefore can not be used for ever. When coal burns, its releases a number of toxins into the atmosphere, including cadmium, lead, and heavy metals such as mercury. 0.07ml of mercury is enough to render all the fish in a 25 acre lake unsafe for human consumption, yet in 2014, USA power plants alone released over 45,000 lbs of mercury into the atmosphere.
Renewable Energy Uptake
Although there has been a continual positive growth of renewable energy across the power industry within the United Nations, other sectors such as transport, heating and cooling and still lagging behind. These sectors combined account for around 80% of the total energy consumed globally each year. The power industry continues to lead the way in renewable energy with a 9% increase in renewable energy capacity over last year, whilst heating, transportation and cooling made little to no progress in terms of switching to renewable energy sources. This resulted in carbon dioxide emissions actually rising by around 1.4%. The biggest challenge currently faced by renewable energy is that is currently only represents such a small percentage of our total annual demand. Renewable energy could soon tip the scales in its favour though, technologies are now fast approaching the point where renewable energy plants will not only be more financially efficient to build than new fossil fuel plants, they will also be more cost efficient than existing fossil fuel plants.
