The most interesting facts about renewable energy

Renewable energy sources are clean, green and use natural resources. There are several sources from which different types of energy can be drawn: solar, geothermal, hydropower, wind and tidal energy. Renewable energy is helping to combat global warming, climate change, air pollution and ocean acidification. It also helps us reduce our carbon footprint, and it even creates new jobs. These days it’s becoming more and more popular around the world.

Here are 20 facts that reveal the enormous potential of renewables.

1. Wind power is the largest renewable energy source in the UK. There are almost 11,000 turbines that produce almost 66 million MWh of electricity a year. That’s the equivalent of powering over 18 million homes.
2. Coal generates only 29% of its original energy value. But wind power generates 1,164% of its original value.
3. According to Bloomberg, global investment in clean energy reached more than $500 billion in 2020, representing a 9% increase compared to 2019.
4. Renewable energy creates more jobs for women. A recent report shows that women hold 32% of jobs in renewables, compared with just 21% in fossil fuels.
5. Siemens built the first commercial offshore wind turbine 30 years ago. Its blades were 15 feet long and generated only 30 kilowatts of power. But the newest model is huge – 108 metres long with a rotor blade with a diameter of 222 metres. Just one turbine can generate enough electricity to power about 18,000 homes each year.
6. Hydropower is the most widely used renewable energy source. It accounts for more than 54% of global renewable electricity generation capacity and 18% of total world electricity production.
7. Costa Rica is a world leader in renewable energy. In 2017, it lasted 300 consecutive days on renewable energy alone.
8. Switching to wind, hydro and solar power worldwide could eliminate 4 to 7 million deaths from air pollution each year.
9. Every hour, the sun radiates enough solar energy back to the earth to power everyone on our planet for a year.
10. Between 2007 and 2017, global renewable electricity from solar increased by 4,300%.
11. The Romans were the first to use geothermal energy to heat their homes, building systems that promoted the movement of warm air under the floor and inside the walls.
12. The world record was broken in 1990 when a solar-powered plane flew over the United States in several stages without consuming any fuel.
13. Renewable energy currently creates five times more jobs than fossil fuels. The number of jobs in renewable energy increased from 1,7 million in 2004 to 10,3 million in 2017 and 11,5 million in 2019. This is according to the annual report of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
14. In 1921, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the photoelectric effect. That’s what led to the invention of solar panels.
15. The global renewable energy market is expected to be worth USD 1,9 trillion by 2030.
16. The Itaipu Dam in Paraguay generates 76% of the country’s electricity and 17% of the electricity consumed in Brazil.
17. Iceland is the only country in the world where 100% of electricity and heat is produced from renewable sources.
18. NASA is developing space technology that could provide the world’s population with affordable green energy from the moon! Their project Watts on the Moon encourages ideas on how to solve the problems of energy storage, extraction and management.
19. China built 100 GW of wind power in 2020 – more than the rest of the world built in 2019!
20. All the energy in the world could be produced from renewable sources by 2050, if the right political, financial and social choices are made.