Renewable energy – the truth
The Post reports:
In an address hosted in Wellington by the Electricity Retailers and Generators Association on Friday, Liebreich said the world was now “almost in the middle third” of the transition to green energy.
Wind and solar energy accounted for about 90% of all new generation worldwide, while deliveries of cars and light trucks powered by internal combustion engines were falling, after peaking in 2017, he noted.
The Middle East conflict was providing “another turn of the screw” on fossil fuels, he said.
You hear stuff like this a lot, and hey I’m all for more green energy. But cherry picking some stats is not the same as the hard data.
The International Energy Agency lists energy by type, since 1990. The share of global energy from coal, gas or oil was 81.8% in 1990. In 2023 it was 80.7%. Yes fossil fuels are a greater percentage today than in 1990. There has been a big growth in renewables but they remain
Here’s the percentage of each type of energy in 1990 and 2023:
- Oil 37% to 30%
- Coal 26% to 28%
- Gas 19% to 23%
- Biofuels/Waste 10% to 9%
- Nuclear 6% to 5%
- Hydro 2.1% to 2.4%
- Solar/Wind 0.4% to 3.3%