Next on our list is the United States of America
The United States, like most other nations, uses a variety of renewable energy sources — water (hydroelectric), wood, biofuels, wind, organic waste, geothermal, and solar — which accounted for 8% of its total energy needs in 2009. Renewable energy consumption increased by roughly 8% between 2008 and 2009, and contributed to nearly 10% of the total electricity generation in 2009.
US Renewable Energy Sources (see full image here)
Policies
The United States renewable energy policies aim to increase the use of renewable energy by:Tax credits: The Renewable Electricity Production Tax Credit has encouraged an eight-fold increase of wind energy capacity since 2001.
Targets: Many States have Renewable Portfolio Standards which require electricity providers to generate a percentage of energy from renewable sources.
Markets: Renewable Energy Certificates allow electricity providers to sell them and use their proceeds for renewable projects.
Motives
Renewable Energy Availability
Since 2000, global wind energy generation has more than tripled, solar cell production has increased six-fold, and biodiesel production has expanded nearly four-fold.
A quarter of the U.S. land area has winds strong enough to generate electricity at the same price as natural gas and coal.
California gets 31% of its electricity from renewable sources.
Stay tuned for more countries coming up!
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about renewable energy - Knowledge Is Power! For more information go to www.endeavorscorp.com or write to us at info@endeavorscorp.com if you have questions or want to get involved. Have a green day!
EIA, EIA, Sustainability and Law, Renewable Energy World, World Watch, Bloomberg New Energy Finance and United Nations Environment Programme (2011)
