The need to significantly reduce green house gas emissions is the most critical and urgent action we must take if we are to avert the current climate crisis. Fortunately, much progress has been made in alternate energy development and deployment. According to the US Energy Information Administration our consumption of renewable energy in 2019 was 11% . Of this 11%, Wind, Solar and Hydroelectric power were the most significant source of green energy. Use of coal has been significantly reduced in the US and around the world. In Europe has virtually eliminated use of coal has been eliminated in favor of clean energy alternative fuels. The US and California has made significant progress in Solar and Wind power adoption.
Solar Power
Did you know that the amount of sunlight that strikes the earth’s surface in an hour and a half is enough to handle the entire world’s energy consumption for a full year? Solar energy has amazing potential to power our daily lives thanks to constantly-improving technologies.
Solar technology has been around since the 1970s, but its capacity has grown significantly in recent years, driven by falling costs, continued government support, and technological innovation. There were more renewable solar installations in 2019 than fossil fuel and nuclear power additions combined, which occurred for the fifth year in a row. Solar energy accounted for 57 percent of this new renewable capacity.[1*]
Solar energy systems come in all shapes and sizes. Residential systems are found on rooftops across the United States, and businesses are also opting to install solar panels to offset their energy costs. Utilities, too, are building large solar power plants to provide cleaner energy to all customers connected to the grid.
The cost of solar has dropped significantly in recent decades and the technology has tremendous potential to become even cheaper and more widespread in the future.
Solar prices have fallen to the point of cost competitiveness with conventional generation technologies (fossil fuels), even without government subsidies.
For more information visit the Energy.gov
Wind Power
The concept of harnessing wind energy to generate mechanical power goes back for millennia. As early as 5000 B.C., Egyptians used wind energy to propel boats along the Nile River. American colonists relied on windmills to grind grain, pump water and cut wood at sawmills. Today’s wind turbines are the windmill’s modern equivalent — converting the kinetic energy in wind into clean, renewable electricity.
Wind Turbines are used in a variety of applications – from harnessing offshore wind resources to generating electricity for a single home:
Large wind turbines, most often used by utilities to provide power to a grid, range from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts. These utility-scale turbines are often grouped together in wind farms to produce large amounts of electricity. Wind farms can consist of a few or hundreds of turbines, providing enough power for tens of thousands of homes.
Small wind turbines, up to 100 kilowatts, are typically close to where the generated electricity will be used, for example, near homes, telecommunications dishes or water pumping stations. Small turbines are sometimes connected to diesel generators, batteries and photovoltaic systems. These systems are called hybrid wind systems and are typically used in remote, off-grid locations, where a connection to the utility grid is not available.
Offshore wind turbines are used in many countries to harness the energy of strong, consistent winds found off of coastlines. The technical resource potential of the winds above U.S. coastal waters is enough to provide more than 4,000 gigawatts of electricity, or approximately four times the generating capacity of the current U.S. electric power system. Although not all of these resources will be developed, this represents a major opportunity to provide power to highly populated coastal cities. To take advantage of America’s vast offshore wind resources, the Department is investing in three offshore wind demonstration projects designed to deploy offshore wind systems in federal and state waters by 2017.
The Future of Wind Turbines
To ensure future growth of the U.S. wind industry, the Energy Department’s Wind Program works with industry partners to improve the reliability and efficiency of wind turbine technology, while also reducing costs. The program’s research efforts have helped to increase the average capacity factor (a measure of power plant productivity) from 22 percent for wind turbines installed before 1998 to more than 32 percent for turbines installed between 2006 and 2012. Wind energy costs have been reduced from more than 55 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 1980 to under 6 cents/kWh today in areas with good wind resources.
Wind turbines offer a unique opportunity to harness energy in areas where our country’s populations need it most. This includes offshore wind’s potential to provide power to population centers near coastlines, and land-based wind’s ability to deliver electricity to rural communities with few other local sources of low carbon power.
The Energy Department continues working to deploy wind power in new areas on land and at sea and ensuring the stable, secure integration of this power into our nation’s electrical grid.
Visit the Energy.gov site for more information on technology and use of wind power.
HydroElectric Power
Most people associate water-power with the Hoover Dam—a huge facility harnessing the power of an entire river behind its walls—but hydropower facilities come in all sizes. Some may be very large, but they can be tiny too, taking advantage of water flows in municipal water facilities or irrigation ditches. They can even be “dam-less,” with diversions or run-of-river facilities that channel part of a stream through a powerhouse before the water rejoins the main river. Whatever the method, hydroelectric power is much easier to obtain and more widely used than most people realize. In fact, all but two states (Delaware and Mississippi) use hydropower for electricity, some more than others. For example, about 74 percent of Washington State’s electricity comes from hydropower.
Additionally, hydropower costs less than most energy sources. States like Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, that get the majority of their electricity from hydropower, have energy bills that are lower than the rest of the country.
Advantages of HydroPower
Hydropower is fueled by water, so it’s a clean fuel source, meaning it won’t pollute the air like power plants that burn fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas.
Hydroelectric power is a domestic source of energy, allowing each state to produce their own energy without being reliant on international fuel sources.
The energy generated through hydropower relies on the water cycle, which is driven by the sun, making it a renewable power source, making it a more reliable and affordable source than fossil fuels that are rapidly being depleted.
Impoundment hydropower creates reservoirs that offer a variety of recreational opportunities, notably fishing, swimming, and boating. Most water power installations are required to provide some public access to the reservoir to allow the public to take advantage of these opportunities.
Some hydropower facilities can quickly go from zero power to maximum output. Because hydropower plants can generate power to the grid immediately, they provide essential back-up power during major electricity outages or disruptions.
In addition to a sustainable fuel source, hydropower efforts produce a number of benefits, such as flood control, irrigation, and water supply.
In 2019, renewables in the U.S. supplied more energy than coal for the first time since at least 1885, the year America’s first skyscraper was erected and Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.