For the First Time Ever, Renewable Energy Generates More Power than Coal & Gas Combined
The National Grid, Britain’s power network, reported that earlier this week wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources produced more energy in the UK than both coal and gas combined, “covering over half of the country’s demand” for the first time ever, according to IFLScience.com.
The Guardian and The Telegraph both reported that exceptionally windy weather across Europe was responsible for setting this record. At approximately 1pm Wednesday afternoon solar energy produced around 7.6 GW of power while wind farms produced about 9.5 GW and the burning of biomass produced another 2 GW.
“This means that the renewable sector accounted for over 50 percent of the nation’s total energy demand [that day], which reached 35.4 GW,” Josh Davis writes. “This is the first time ever that green energy has supplied more of the UK’s energy than gas and coal, which produced 7.4 GW and 0 GW respectively.”
This accomplishment has since led many countries to increase the installation of renewable energy-gathering sources. Just this week Germany, Denmakr and Belgium agreed to unite to install massive wind farms off their coast lines with the goal of increasing the EU’s wind power by 500 percent. This suggests a continued trend internationally toward a widespread implementation of green power sources.
