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  • All around the world, governments are building more

  • solar parks, wind farms and hydroelectric power plants to generate power.

  • As global warming and climate change continue to take centre stage,

  • which countries are leading in generating power through renewable energy?

  • And what are the challenges preventing mass adoption?

  • In 2018, more than a quarter of the world's energy was generated from renewable sources,

  • thanks to costs coming down and more green policies taking off.

  • Renewable energy can come from many sources.

  • The most common are solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydropower.

  • In sunny Singapore, solar power would seem like the natural fit.

  • So what's preventing its mass adoption?

  • Well, it's not that straightforward.

  • For one, the unpredictable cloud cover over the tiny city-state.

  • And not all countries have the same potential to harness clean energy

  • or the right environment for certain energy infrastructure.

  • Let's take a look at who's leading the energy revolution.

  • China, the United States, Brazil, India and Germany have the biggest

  • renewable power capacity worldwide, in no small part due to their size.

  • Remove hydropower from the mix and Germany moves up to number three

  • and Japan takes the number five spot.

  • But it's no coincidence that these six countries also make the list of the world's biggest energy consumers,

  • meaning that even if they were producing renewable energy at capacity,

  • it still makes up a small proportion of their overall energy mix.

  • Divide renewable power capacity by the number of people living in the country,

  • and you get a very different mix of countries.

  • Iceland is the world leader, followed by Denmark.

  • Germany and Sweden are tied in the third spot.

  • And Finland rounds out the top five.

  • But the most telling metric is likely the role of renewables in a country's overall energy mix.

  • Nordic and Latin American countries have a good showing on this list.

  • More than 75% of Norway, New Zealand, Brazil and Colombia's energy production comes from renewables.

  • Venezuela, Canada, Sweden and Portugal also make a good showing.

  • But for big oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the U.A.E and Algeria,

  • renewables are unsurprisingly near non-existent.

  • But again, not all countries have equal geographies and policies.

  • Think of renewable energy as something bespoke, with each country harnessing the environment

  • according to its unique surroundings.

  • Norway has 1,660 hydropower plants and more than 1,000 storage reservoirs.

  • It is possible for Norway to depend on hydropower because of the country's long coastlines,

  • steep valleys and high levels of running water.

  • In neighbouring Sweden, where forests make up 63% of its land mass,

  • bioenergy is increasingly being used for heating, as well as for electricity production.

  • 11% of its electricity is also derived from around 3,600 wind turbines.

  • Likewise in Brazil, which has rivers and huge swathes of the Amazon rainforest within its borders.

  • Clean energy, including hydropower, accounted for 42% of its electricity production in 2017.

  • Ditto for Colombia and Venezuela, countries known for hydroelectricity.

  • One famous cautionary tales about over-reliance on one form of renewable energy comes from Venezuela,

  • which depends heavily on the Guri dam for about 60% of the country's electrical needs.

  • In 2010 and 2016, droughts caused the dam's water to fall so low, the government had to declare emergencies.

  • So where does the energy race go from here?

  • Well, an increasing number of countries are recognizing the urgent need to tackle,

  • or slow down climate change.

  • Investing in renewable energy is one of the major steps.

  • From the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, an increasing number of signatories are joining

  • international environmental agreements to lower emissions of greenhouse gases.

  • The Paris Agreement brought together 195 nations to tackle climate change in 2015,

  • though it has had a few setbacks since.

  • The United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. So we're getting out.

  • But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair.

  • Other targets include the UN Sustainable Development Goal for Affordable and Clean Energy,

  • which includes increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030.

  • In the meantime, countries have set unilateral targets as well.

  • More than 60 countries are planning to bring their carbon footprint to zero by 2050,

  • with the European Union aiming to become the first climate neutral economy.

  • But most renewable energy sources are still subject to unpredictable forces of nature.

  • Imagine a drought rendering a dam useless and taking out a country's sole electricity supply.

  • Or intermittent energy from wind or solar sources. What then?

  • That's where innovation and new technologies kick in.

  • Remember when billionaire Elon Musk tweeted that he would install a battery storage system

  • in South Australia within 100 days, or deliver it for free?

  • The Tesla battery system now holds the title for the largest lithium-ion battery in the world.

  • It can currently store 129 megawatt-hours of energy

  • from wind turbines by renewable power company Neoen.

  • This is enough to meet the needs of 30,000 homes.

  • Now, Neoen has plans to upgrade its capacity by 50% to 150 megawatts.

  • More localised microgrid systems are already powering remote locations,

  • like these far-flung islands in Southeast Asia, and providing reliable energy storage.

  • But to power the world with renewable energy, we're going to need much more storage than that.

  • 3D printing is seen as a way to reduce the cost of producing solar panels or wind turbines.

  • Ten years ago, the cost of a solar panel installation in the United States was $8.50 per watt.

  • It's now $2.99 per watt. That's a 65

  • Harvesting kinetic energy is seen as another option, with some already pioneering technology

  • that will transform your footsteps into electricity.

  • While the world is shifting to renewable energy, economic growth and a growing population

  • mean global energy demand is still increasing.

  • Not only do renewables have to meet the energy demands of today, but also tomorrow.

  • Hey guys, thanks for watching.

  • Subscribe if you haven't already and comment if you have any thoughts on renewable energy.

All around the world, governments are building more

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再生可能エネルギーをリードしているのは?| CNBCが解説します (Who is leading in renewable energy? | CNBC Explains)

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    Alvin He に公開 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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