It’s Getting Much Easier for Companies and Cities to Go 100 Percent Renewable
A new report looks at the push for 100 percent renewables around the world. But it’s limited to electricity, not all energy.
A long-term goal of 100 percent renewable energy is increasingly possible for large corporations and local governments, according to a new report by Clean Edge.
An example of a region going 100% renewable is Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, a state with mpnearly 3 million people. The windy rural northern German state is now producing as much renewable electricity as it consumes — although that is a net calculation.
On the corporate side too, there is some visible movement. The current push for all renewables among global corporate powerhouses such as Google, Microsoft and Unilever has largely been met through tradable credits. But there is a strong shift toward onsite generation or direct power-purchase agreements, the report notes. The ambitious goals set by many large corporations started as sustainability programs, but are increasingly economic decisions.
The report, funded by SolarCity, outlines five trends that are enabling the shift to 100 percent renewables: the falling cost of distributed solar; maturing utility-scale renewables; maturing energy storage; efficiency and net-zero buildings; and a more intelligent electric grid.
More from this report at Green Tech Media