While the U.S. continues to lag behind, and at times is even openly hostile towards green energy, other countries around the world have been turning to solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources to provide larger and larger shares of their electricity output. Even though China is still a major polluter, they have made major strides and lead the world in solar capacity, and India, another target for U.S. arguments about why shifting to green energy would be moot, has also started major solar projects of their own. Now, Germany has pledged to close all of their coal based power plants in the next 19 years, a move that would mean they would be generating anywhere from 65% to 85% of their electricity from solar, wind, and other non-fossil fuel based sources.
Germany moved to shutdown all of their nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster in 2011, and so far they have closed 12 of their 19 nuclear stations. By adding coal to the hit list, so to speak, they are making a significant commitment to renewable energy and are banking heavily on their ability to power their nation by majority renewable sources. Given that they already generate over 40% of their power from renewables, it doesn’t seem like too big of a leap to reach at least 65% by 2040, which is their current goal. So, while the U.S. looks for ways to prop up obsolete energy sources, the rest of the world seems poised to move on, and move ahead.
