Previously we had talked about how green progression has seriously picked up its pace in the power sector. Now, we have another reason to rejoice, as for the first time in the history of mankind, the total power capacity of renewable sources has overtaken nuclear power. The sources we are talking about here are specifically three important renewable sources of wind turbines, biomass and waste-to-energy plants, and solar power.
According to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-2011, published by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, the combined global installed capacity of wind turbines at 193 gigawatts (or 193,000 MW), biomass and waste-to-energy plants at 65 GW, and solar power at 43 GW reached 381 GW. This, in effect, has surpassed the entire global installed nuclear capacity of 375 GW (prior to the Fukushima disaster).
And in another important related development, this ‘capacity coup’ by the sustainable sources was already overseen by many of the power sector watchdogs. This is so because for the past 15 years, the rate of increase of capacity of renewable sources has always outmatched that of nuclear power. The capacity for wind power alone has increased from a paltry 6.1 GW (in 1996) to 193 GW (in 2010) in this period, which is more than thirty times. Whereas, in the United States alone, the share of renewables in new capacity additions catapulted from 2 per cent in 2004 to 55 per cent in 2009, with no new nuclear facility project being installed.
All of such sustainable ventures has put the total renewable market at a whopping $243 billion in 2010. And as for us green folks, we would want it to skyrocket even further, post this glorious period for sustainability.
Source: Domain-B
