According to two reports, solar and wind power will become even less expensive and more widely used as a result of the “positive tipping point” that has been reached in the global transition to renewable energy.
According to a report released by a number of UN organizations under the name Seizing the Moment of Opportunity, 74 percent of the increase in electricity produced globally was generated by wind, solar, and other green sources. On Tuesday, it was released.
According to the report, renewable energy accounts for 92.5% of all new grid capacity added in 2024. In addition, electric vehicle sales increased from 500,000 in 2015 to more than 17 million in 2024.
According to an energy cost report released by the Intergovernmental Energy Agency (IRENA), the three most affordable electricity sources were solar panels, new hydropower, and onshore wind. According to the reports, solar energy is currently 41% less expensive than wind power, and wind power is 53% less expensive overall.
In a speech at the UN headquarters in New York City, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared that “the fossil fuel age is failing and flailing.”
We are at the start of a new era of energy. a world with abundant, affordable, and clean energy that is “free of economic opportunity”
According to Guterres, “just follow the money,” according to Guterres, who quoted reports that showed there was $ 2 trillion in green energy investment last year, or $ 800 billion more than in fossil fuels.
Despite receiving nearly nine times as much government consumption subsidies as fossil fuels, Guterres and the reports claimed.
According to the UN report, global fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $ 620 billion in 2023, compared to $ 70 billion for renewables.
The UN did, however, warn that the transition to renewable energy is not quick enough.
Despite the boom in renewable energy, there is still a rise in global fossil fuel production rather than a decline. According to UN officials, this is because of the need for cooling in an ever warmer world, as well as the need for developing nations to increase overall power demand.
Guterres warned people who rely on fossil fuels that their futures were in danger of developing into poorer, not richer.
“Locations that cling to fossil fuels are not preserving their economies. They are [sabotaging] them, Guterres said, “sabotaging them by raising costs, undermining competitiveness, locking in stranded assets.”
Countries like China, where one-tenth of the economy is tasked with green energy, as well as countries like India and Brazil, have experienced the greatest growth of renewable energy globally.
Despite having significant electrification requirements, the reports claimed that Africa accounted for less than 2% of the new green energy installed last year.
The Bahamian climate scientist Adelle Thomas of the Natural Resources Defense Council, who did not contribute to the reports, told The Associated Press news agency that “the Global South must be empowered to generate its own electricity without adding to existing unsustainable levels of debt.”
By 2030, Guterres demanded that major technology companies use renewable energy to completely power data centers.
According to Guterres, “an AI data center consumes as much electricity as 100 000 homes.” According to the report, “data centers could use as much electricity as Japan does today.”
The UN representative claimed that “the cloud is being built in the future.”
Source: Aljazeera
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