More Clean than Dirty Power Installed in 2007

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More Clean than Dirty Power Installed in 2007
More Clean than Dirty Power Installed in 2007
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  Written by Hank Green   

Monday, 26 January 2009

 
For all we talk about solar and wind power, they still produce tiny amounts of the United States' (and the World's) electricity. But now we've finally got some numbers reflecting just how exciting renewables are. In 2007, the U.S. the majority of new power installed was wind power, and total production of coal-fired power actually shrunk!

A total of 8.6 gigawatts of new power were installed in 2007 with around 5 gigawatts of that coming from wind. Almost all of the rest of the power addition came from natural gas.

Two coal fired power plants went online in 2007 for a total addition of just over a gigawatt. However, reductions and retirements of coal fired power elsewhere actually resulted in a 200 MW decrease in coal-generated power during the year.

That's freaking awesome.

Sometimes it's hard to see long term when we're all focused so much on the day's big breakthrough. But it's important to note that 2007 was a breakthrough year even though no one noticed. We can't just shut down all the coal-fired power plants in America, but we can start installing clean power instead of dirty power.

The Department of Energy apparently takes a long time to get these reports together, they just released these 2007 numbers about a week ago. But, frankly, I'm already holding my breath for 2008's numbers. You can read the full report here.



Dennis Spisak

Mahoning Valley Green Party

Ohio Green Party

www.ohiogreens.org

www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/