Wind and solar energy overtake fossil fuels to provide 30% of EU electricity
www.theguardian.com
Report finds 13 member states generated more energy from wind and solar power than coal and gas for first time in 2024
    • Oneser@lemm.ee
      7·
      3 months ago

      The EU runs on 70% on-understandable process and regulation, everyone knows that! Good to see renewables pick up the rest.

    • eleitl@lemm.ee
      5·
      3 months ago

      Please don’t say energy when you mean just electricity. Primary energy demand is what we need to focus on.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        1·
        3 months ago

        22% of new registered cars are electric (fully or hybrid). Still going to take a while but beginning to make a dent. Re-focussing on rail is another approach but that’s also a long-term thing, infrastructure doesn’t get expanded over night.

        Another big chunk is heat, both domestic and industrial. There’s been huge dents due to better insulation and using more waste heat (mostly industrial settings), when it comes to source of heat that’s a more difficult thing. France is big on electric heating so they’re switching over automatically, Germany historically uses tons of gas and even with the new laws in place it’s going to take decades before everything is switched over to heat pumps and stuff.

        The last big chunk is industrial feedstock, I’m including steel smelting in that. Long story short Canadian and Namibian hydrogen is in the pipeline. Not literally, but investment-wise. The first smelters using hydrogen are already online, ready to get switched over from blue to green, and I’m quite sure BASF already knows exactly which pipes it needs to double up and which to repurpose, their precursor production stage is already flexible AF, able to react in practically real-time to what’s cheapest on the market they’ll be ready once the hydrogen comes flowing.

        • eleitl@lemm.ee
          1·
          3 months ago

          This is what I meant https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-primary-energy

          Hydrogen from water electrolysis needs massive (look at world gas demand for scale) excess renewable electricity production and support infrastructure which isn’t there nor are there credible buildout and financing plans for it. Even if it would happen it would cause demand destruction due to its high price.

          This isn’t an argument against doing it. It’s just about the status quo and mid-term future.