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Renewable Resources: Germany sets national record

Last Saturday, Germany set a new national record for renewable energy. 78 percent of the day’s electricity demand were met with renewables sources. Up 4 percent from 2014.

This all came about because it was stormy northern Europe while still being sunny in Southern Germany.German energy expert Craig Morris at the Energiewende blog, wrote about this. The North is home to Germany’s wind turbines and the South is home to its solar panels.

40.65 gigawatts (GW) of power are believed to have been generated on July 25. Other forms of renewable would add to the equation–4.85 GW from biomass and 2.4 GW from hydropower. 47.9 GW of renewable power was put out during a peak power time that required 61.1 GW.

An earlier figure by Germany energy policy firm Agora Energiewende had renewables making up 79 percent of domestic power consumption that day.

Renewable sources fit into a long term plan for Germany. In 2014, theyaccounted for 27.8 percent of Germany’s power consumption. In 2000, they had only been 6.2 percent. Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions fell for the first time in three years in 2014–with a year by year drop of 4.3 perfect.

Germany has big plans for the future: by 2022, they want to phase out all nuclear energy;by 2034, they want to double of percentage of renewable resources; and by 2050, they want a reduction of 80 percent of their greenhouse gases.