(edited 1:18pm to add U.S. projections)
Germans have now achieved goals, which coal industry skeptics have been claiming for the last 40 years could not be achieved even by 2050 and is is rapidly becoming a model country for transitions to renewable and sustainable energy proving that "yes, a transition to a renewable energy economy can be done, and it can be down with continuous improvement to existing technology.
Germans have a special word for it -"'Energiewende', or energy transformation - which aims to power the entire country by renewable resources by 2050." Germans are now laying down a challenge for other countries saying there is no longer any excuse for countries to say this is impossible.
June 6, 2014 was a record breaking day for the solar power industry in Germany when the country broke through the symbolic barrier of generating more than 50% of its total electricity needs with solar power for one hour in an all time record, according to Tobias Rothachter, and expert on renewable energy at Germany's Trade and Invest.
Indeed, the EU has taken an aggressive vision for the transition of the energy supply and demand for the 27 EU countries to 100% renewable energy together with phase-out of fossil and nuclear energy until 2040. With the vision and the underlying scenario is a reduction of CO2 emissions from energy use of just above 40% until 2020
Incredibly it would appear solar power is now the dominant #1 producer of electric power in Germany, and wind electric is the second with the two together providing 74% of all the countries electrical power needs in 2014. Simply amazing stuff. It should also be noted that Wind also set a single day record producing 39% of the countries electricity in December.
Another recent study has shown that solar electrical generation in German has just achieved the longed-for, but illusive, grid parity with other forms of electrical generation in the country. Andres Loubrielhttp of The Guardian brings us all this good news in 50 Percent of the Energy Produced in Germany Is Solar: New Record.
The U.S. meanwhile seems to have been completely asleep as the renewable wheel as the chart to the right demonstrates. Even states such as Oklahoma seem determined to make out on the renewable game with their passage of a tax in April on anyone installing solar to offset existing electric grid infrastructure costs. Don't even get me going on that rant. Grrrrr
Sadly renewables accounted for a pitiful 9.29% of total energy production in the U.S. in 2012 according to EIA.gov. (according to data accessed today) which begs the question: "will oil-baron-billionaire-dominated America ever catch up?"
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