Renewables Continue to Surprise, Surpassing Hydro in 2014

The year 2014 was another very strong growth year for renewables. Based on data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), generation from non-hydro renewables grew by 10.9% compared to the previous year. To put that in perspective, generation from all sources grew by just 0.7% over the same period.

Generation from conventional sources was essentially flat. Nuclear power grew by 1.0%. Contrary to what one might have expected, coal generation grew by 0.3%, while natural gas generation actually fell by 0.3%.Conventional hydro also declined by 3.7%.

That, aided by a 102.8% increase in solar and an 8.3% increase in wind, allowed renewables to move up to where they contributed 13.2% of all net electrical generation for the year. That’s up from 12.8% in 2013. Biomass and geothermal also grew by 5.7% and 5.4% respectively.

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Image credit: Anthony Blyth: Flickr Creative Commons

RP Siegel, author and inventor, shines a powerful light on numerous environmental and technological topics. He has been published in business and technical journals and has written three books. His third, co-authored with Roger Saillant, is Vapor Trails, an eco-thriller that is being adapted for the big screen. RP is a professional engineer – and a prolific inventor, with 50 patents, numerous awards, and several commercial products. He is president of Rain Mountain LLC and is an active environmental advocate in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y. In addition to Justmeans, he writes for Triple Pundit, ThomasNet News, and Energy Viewpoints, occasionally contributing to Mechanical Engineering, Strategy + Business, and Huffington Post.