Renewable electricity overtakes fossil fuels in UK for first time

Renewable energy sources provided more electricity to UK homes and businesses than fossil fuels for the first time over the last quarter, according to new research.

Ten years ago fossil fuels made four fifths of the UK’s electricity supply.

The renewables record was set in the third quarter of this year after its share of the electricity mix rose to 40%.

It is the first time that electricity from British windfarms, solar panels and renewable biomass plants has surpassed fossil fuels since the UK’s first power plant fired up in 1882.

The new milestone confirms predictions made by National Grid that 2019 will be the first year since the Industrial Revolution that zero-carbon electricity – renewables and nuclear – overtakes gas and coal-fired power.

Read the story from The Guardian by Jillian Ambrose - “Renewable electricity overtakes fossil fuels in UK for first time.”

Queensland could be 90% renewable by 2030 – with right policy settings

Coal-dependent Queensland could meet almost 100 per cent of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2030, a new report has found, if all of the state’s almost 15,000MW (15GW) pipeline of large-scale wind and solar projects went ahead.

The report, produced by Green Energy Markets for the Solar Citizens campaign group, says that if all projects under various stages of development in Queensland proceeded, they could generate more than 90 per cent of its forecast annual power consumption in 2030.

It points to a growth trajectory that has taken renewable energy capacity in Queensland from just 7.4 per cent of state electricity consumption in 2015, to 25.6 per cent – or just over one quarter – by 2020.

Read Sophie Vorrath’s story from RenewEconomy - “Queensland could be 90% renewable by 2030 – with right policy settings.”

Choosing to be powered by renewable energy sources

In 2013, Greensburg, KS — a town of less than 800 residents about 100 miles from Wichita — became the first city in the United States to go 100 percent renewable, powering their homes, businesses, and municipal buildings via wind power. In 2014, Burlington, VT joined Greensburg, becoming the largest city in the United States to be powered by renewable energy sources. A year later, Aspen, CO, joined the coalition, becoming the third city in the United States to go 100 percent renewable.

It took just three years for three U.S. cities to make the transition to 100 percent clean energy — and experts in the field of renewable energy, as well as several prominent environmental groups, expect that pace only to quicken in the coming years. Just last month, San Diego — the country’s eighth-largest city — made a legally binding commitment to transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. In total, 12 U.S. cities — including San Francisco, CA, Georgetown, TX, and Ithaca, NY — have made commitments to transition to 100 percent clean energy, though many have yet to solidify those commitments as law.

Read the ClimateProgress story - “What Will It Take For America To Go 100 Percent Renewable?”

(Australia imitates America in many things and if we can follow this lead, some of our communities are already well ahead of the pack, then renewable energy will become a reality – Robert McLean).

Climate Guadian Angels hand-deliver letters and artworks in Paris

A

t a special ceremony in central Paris Climate Guardian Angels will be hand-delivering letters and artworks especially created by Australian children and teenagers imploring international leaders to secure their future by urgently transitioning global energy systems away from dirty and dangerous fossil fuels towards zero pollution, renewable energy sources.

Read the story and see some of the letters - “Climate Guardians delivering Aussie kids’ messages to world leaders at COP21”.