German renewables supply tops share of nation’s electricity demand

There are more signs that Germany’s “Energy Transition” is making steady progress toward the Merkel government’s goal to shut down all of the nation’s atomic reactors in the coming decade and largely replace them and the fossil fuel industry with wind and solar power. Bloomberg News reported that German renewable energy produced the largest percentage of all electricity generators individually including lignite coal, nuclear and hydropower. Wind, solar and biomass supplied 27.7% of Germany’s electricity demand as compared to 26.3 % by coal-fired generators while atomic reactors generated 15.4%. 

In the United Kingdom, wind power continues to set electricity production records only to break them days later. Offshore and onshore wind power combined to briefly surpass nuclear power generated electricity for several minutes.   

"IEEFA: FirstEnergy financial condition unlikely to improve"

As reported by FierceEnergy, FirstEnergy has essentially declared war on renewables and efficiency, and is attempting to massively gouge ratepayers, as well as taxpayers, to prop up failing plants like its Davis-Besse atomic reactor. This according to a report by IEEFA -- the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The article quotes Tom Sanzillo, IEEFA's director of finance:

"FirstEnergy's CEO has called this the 'lost decade. But it has not been a lost decade for other utilities investing in renewables and alternatives to coal,'" Sanzillo said. "FirstEnergy's corporate leadership is lost, and they are asking shareholders, ratepayers and government officials to pay for their management blackout."

SUN DAY Campaign: EIA underestimates future contributions of renewable sources of electricity

Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign, published a press release on April 29th entitled "EIA PROJECTS RENEWABLES TO BE 16-27% OF U.S. ELECTRICITY SUPPLY BY 2040: LOW END DOES NOT PASS THE LAUGH TEST; UPPER BOUND PROBABLY STILL TOO CONSERVATIVE."

He analyses EIA's report, documenting -- at times with EIA's own data -- how it significantly underestimates not only the potential contribution of renewable energy sources to the U.S. electricity supply, but also what renewables (that is, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind) will likely provide in the next few years, and decades, to come.

Ken Bossong warns: "Unrealistically low forecasts provide ammunition for those arguing that investments in renewable energy are not cost-effective and that new fossil fuel and nuclear construction is necessary because renewables cannot meet the nation's future energy needs. As such, EIA's projections can have multiple adverse impacts on the renewable energy industry as well as on the nation's environmental and energy future."

The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1992 to promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels.

"Is The New York Times Missing The Decade’s Most Affirmative Climate-and-Energy Story?"

Charles Komanoff, is an article posted at the Carbon Tax Center (which he directs), has set the record straight with the "paper of record."

The Carbon Tax Center is a clearinghouse for information, research and advocacy on behalf of revenue-neutral carbon taxes to address the climate crisis.

Komanoff provides ten points to keep in mind in order to critically assess the New York Times, and others', dismissive attitude toward the German energy transformation, away from nuclear power and fossil fuels, to efficiency and renewables.

"RENEWABLE ENERGY COULD PROVIDE 16% OF U.S. ELECTRICITY WITHIN FIVE YEARS"

Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign, has published a report entitled RENEWABLE ENERGY COULD PROVIDE 16% OF U.S. ELECTRICITY WITHIN FIVE YEARS. The subtitle is SOME MODEST PROJECTIONS FOR NEAR-TERM GROWTH (or why the EIS's forecast of renewables not reaching 16% until 2040 is almost certainly wrong).

The SUN DAY Campaign is a non-profit research and educational organization founded in 1992 to promote sustainable energy technologies as cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power and fossil fuels.