Hydropower generation is vulnerable to silt buildup, which can compromise capacity and harm equipment. The share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption is identified as a key indicator for measuring progress under the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Corporations are making a difference too, purchasing record amounts of renewable power in 2018. An important aspect to take into account when interpreting data is statistical revisions. All energy sources have some impact on our environment. Given the 15-year normalisation requirement for hydro power production and the availability of energy statistics (for the EU, starting from 1990), long time series of this indicator are not available. Hydropower: For centuries, people have harnessed the energy of river currents, using dams to control water flow. Cities, states, and federal governments around the world are instituting policies aimed at increasing renewable energy. Types of renewable energy sources Hydropower: For centuries, people have harnessed the energy of river currents, using dams to control water flow. One of the key targets proposed is for the share of renewable energy to reach at least 27 % by 2030. In any discussion about climate change, renewable energy usually tops the list of changes the world can implement to stave off the worst effects of rising temperatures. Clean energy has far more to recommend it than just being "green." List item. The first U.S. offshore wind farm opened in 2016 in Rhode Island, and other offshore projects are gaining momentum. 5 Fast Facts about Hydrogen and Fuel Cells. Renewable Energy is no longer a niche sector of novel technologies, and we have now implemented renewable energy to a scale where it is expected to provide 50% of global power in the next few decades. The Communication also called for a more coordinated European approach in the establishment and reform of support schemes and an increased use of renewable energy trading among EU Member States. At the other end of the scale, the share of electricity from renewable sources was 10 % or less in Malta (8 %), Cyprus, Luxembourg and Hungary (all 10 %), see Table 2. Strictly speaking, renewable energy is just what you might think: perpetually available, or as the U.S. Energy Information Administration puts it, "virtually inexhaustible." The statistics presented in this article are based on data compiled in accordance with accounting rules set down in the Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and calculated on the basis of energy statistics covered by Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on energy statistics, most recently amended in November 2019 by Regulation (EU) No 2019/2146. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/energy/reference/renewable-energy.html, setting new records for electricity generation, average temperatures on the surface are rising. There are five main forms of renewable energy: solar, wind, water, biofuel and geothermal (heat from the earth). The share of electricity from renewable energy sources is defined as the ratio between electricity produced from renewable energy sources and gross national electricity consumption. At the other side of the scale, the EU-27 Member States with a share of energy from renewable sources in heating and cooling of less than 10 % were Ireland (6.3 %), the Netherlands (7.1 %), Belgium (8.3 %) and Luxembourg (8.7 %), see Table 3. Solar, wind, hydropower, and other renewable energy sources currently account for a small share of global energy. The values in these years are not used for any measurement of legislative compliance with the indicative trajectory defined in part B of Annex I of the Directive. A very significant case is the consumption of biomass, where countries are launching new more detailed surveys that allow them to capture more data on the final energy consumption of biomass. WATCH: Taller than the Statue of Liberty, these wind turbines journeyed across the sea. In January 2014, the European Commission put forward a set of energy and climate goals for 2030 with the aim of encouraging private investment in infrastructure and low-carbon technologies. While the EU as a whole is on course to meet its 2020 targets, some Member States will need to make additional efforts to meet their obligations as regards the two main targets: the overall share of energy from renewable sources in the gross final energy consumption (see Figure 1) and the specific share of energy from renewable sources in transport (which is dealt with further on in this article, see Figure 4 and Table 4). The accounting rules in Directive 2009/28/EC prescribe that electricity generated by hydro power and wind power have to be normalised to account for annual weather variations (hydro is normalised over the last 15 years and wind over the last 5 years). used in transport by 2020. The Public Renewable Energy Finance Flows shown in these tables present an overview of investment transactions for renewable energies from selected public financial institutions. The term often also encompasses biomass as well, whose carbon neutral status is under debate. The share of renewable energies in fuel consumed in transport is calculated on the basis of energy statistics, according to the methodology as described in Directive 2009/28/EC. Share of renewable energy more than doubled between 2004 and 2019, Wind and water provide most renewable electricity; solar is the fastest-growing energy source, Over one fifth of energy used for heating and cooling from renewable sources, 8.9% of renewable energy used in transport activities in 2019, Renewable energy: a major player in the European energy market, Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050, sustainability of solid and gaseous biofuels used for electricity, heating and cooling, Calculation methodologies for the share of renewables in energy consumption, Electricity production, consumption and market overview, Shedding light on energy in the EU - A guided tour of energy statistics (2020 edition), Energy, transport and environment statistics (2020 edition), Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context (2020 edition), Share of energy from renewable sources (nrg_ind_ren), European Commission — Directorate-General for Energy — Renewable energy, International Energy Agency (IEA) — Renewable energy, Concerted Action on Renewable Energy Sources Directive, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Renewable_energy_statistics&oldid=512147. 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