International Consumption of Fossil Fuels Just like Ten Years In the past within the Vitality Combine – Watts Up With That?
Reposted by NOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THIS
17th JUNE 2021
By Paul Homewood
From Reuters:
The share of fossil fuels in the world’s total energy mix is as high as it was ten years ago, despite falling renewable energy costs and pressure on governments to act against climate change, a report by the green energy policy network REN21 showed on Tuesday.
Fossil fuel use has continued in the face of increasing global energy demand, continued consumption and investment in new fossil fuel power plants, and reduced use of biomass energy – like wood or agricultural waste – in heating and cooking, the report said.
Burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil creates carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.
As the atmospheric concentration of CO2 emissions has soared to record levels, calls for governments to reduce emissions and reduce fossil fuel consumption in order to meet global climate goals have grown louder.
According to REN21, the share of fossil fuels in the global energy mix was 80.2% in 2019, compared to 80.3% in 2009, while renewable energies such as wind and solar power accounted for 11.2% of the energy mix in 2019 and 8.7% in 2009 said.
The rest of the energy mix consists of traditional biomass, which is mainly used for cooking or heating houses in developing countries.
But in many regions, including parts of China, the European Union, India and the USA, it is now cheaper to build new wind or photovoltaic systems than to operate existing coal-fired power plants.
Renewable energies also outperform new natural gas-powered power plants in costs at many locations and are the cheapest sources for new electricity generation in countries on all major continents, the report says.
“We are waking up to the bitter reality that the promises made in climate policy over the past ten years have mostly been empty words,” said Rana Adib, Managing Director of REN21.
“The share of fossil fuels in final energy consumption has not changed an inch,” she added.
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/global-fossil-fuel-use-similar-decade-ago-energy-mix-report-says-2021-06-14/?mc_cid=5553642c50&mc_eid=4961da7cb1
There’s the usual nonsense about how cheap renewables are now. The report’s authors don’t seem to have figured out that countries like China and India don’t want them for the simple reason that they don’t work. They may be fine for niche operations and replenishment, but they figured out that you can’t build a full power grid around wind and solar.
Like this:
Loading…
Comments are closed.