How much of the world uses renewable energy compared to fossil fuels?

Although only about 15 percent of the global energy consumption is tied to renewable energy right now, many nations are making the switch to sun, wind, and other renewable energy sources every day. Nations are investing in solar and wind technology to not only create more sustainable energy sources but also to reap the cost savings associated with renewable energy.

What is renewable energy?

According to the Penn State Extension, renewable energy is defined as energy that is created from continually replenished natural processes. These processes typically include sun, geothermal heat from the earth, water, and other biomass sources. All of these sources of energy cannot be used up but instead, are constantly replenished.

How much of the world uses renewable energy?

The International Energy Outlook reported that currently, 15 percent of the world’s energy consumption and 28 percent of electricity generation is in renewable energy. Projections into the future continue to rise with energy consumption expected to reach 28 percent and electricity production to reach 49 percent renewable energy by the year 2050.

Right now, the majority of renewable energy is used by poorer countries that rely on traditional biomass such as burning wood, agricultural waste, and other similar materials to generate energy for heat and cooking. Hydropower is a close second with more modern renewable energy technology, such as solar, wind, and geothermal making up a small but growing proportion.

What are nations doing to increase the use of renewable energy?

Researchers at several universities in the United States and Europe have published a plan for 139 countries to switch to all renewable energy by the year 2050. This consortium expects that this effort could account for nearly all the world’s energy use with more than 94 percent generated by wind and solar power technologies.

Several countries are taking the lead including Sweden that’s working to be the first country to go 100 percent fossil-free. Although Costa Rica is small, this country generated 99 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, wind, and other low-carbon sources in 2015. Nicaragua, Scotland, Germany and Denmark have also already made significant strides in moving toward more and more renewable energy.

Benefits of using renewable energy

The US Environmental Protection Agency reports on the numerous benefits of renewable energy to individual countries and the world.

Renewable energy helps meet the world’s energy needs without generating greenhouse gases as well as decreases air pollution. Most countries have ample supply of things like sun and wind, which means renewable energy can decrease their dependence on imported fuels. Renewable energy helps countries diversify their energy supplies, as well as boost the local economy through related jobs in manufacturing and installation of equipment.

In addition, a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Washington reports that the health benefits from renewable energy have the potential to be enormous. The report looked at simply doubling the current level of renewable energy in nine mid-Atlantic and rustbelt states. This action could result in $20 billion of public health benefits by reducing the levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and other microscopic particles that could damage lungs and lead to respiratory diseases.

Cost Savings

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), renewable energy is often the cheapest source of energy, even without government subsidies and incentives. As technology has improved the installation and maintenance of renewable energy equipment, that has dropped the price of renewables as a viable long-term energy solution.

The cost savings from the most popular renewable energy sources -- wind and sun -- come from the fact that they require no ongoing fuel to generate electricity in the long-term. Nearly all the costs are upfront in the building of wind turbines or installation of solar panels. As the costs of these technologies drop, the overall price tag of renewables will continue to come down. As a result, renewable energy generates a stable, predictable, low-cost means of creating electricity.

Once the infrastructure is built, energy producers will only have minimal operations and preventive maintenance costs. Maintenance technology continues to evolve at the same time, which means that renewable energy companies will be able to easily monitor equipment with sensors and collect comprehensive data about asset performance. This will lead to a greater use of more effective predictive maintenance processes.