Carbon emissions and the environment

The world is at a crossroad. Pollution and climate change are two of the biggest problems man faces in the next century. We are experiencing global climate events that are unprecedented in human history and climate scientists agree that man must change course or dire consequences will result. The most significant action we can take to reverse global warming is introducing more clean energy sources.

Clean energy grew at a record pace as the United States added 22GW of capacity — the equivalent of 11 Hoover Dams — to the power grid from renewable sources last year, significantly trumping new fossil fuel additions, according to a new report.
The report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) cites the declining cost of wind and solar power, largely due to advances in technology, as prime reasons for the rapid adoption of renewable energy sources. The cost of building large utility-scale solar photovoltaic power plants has been falling by nearly half in just five years.

Renewables benefit from a decline in coal power

Renewable energy companies have also benefited from the rapid decline in coal power that has resulted from a combination of factors including stiff competition from cheap natural gas and environmental regulation. Coal-fired power plants now provide only about a third of the country’s electricity compared with nearly half of the supply in 2008.

“The contributions of sustainable energy to the country’s economic competitiveness are direct, dramatic and dynamic,” says Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, a non-profit that promotes market solutions to environmental issues, in a press release.

Cheap natural gas prices and increased use of low-cost renewables has been advantageous for consumers, according to the report. Electricity costs have fallen more than 2% in real terms between 2015 and 2016 and American consumers spent less than 4% of their household spending on energy for the first time in history.

Greenhouse gases declining

Greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change declined to their lowest level in a quarter century even as the economy continued to grow, according to the report. The finding is the latest evidence addressing the question policymakers long-debated about whether economic growth can be disassociated from carbon dioxide emissions.

There has never been a better time to install a solar energy system!

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