Thursday 27 October 2016

Renewables overtake coal as world’s largest source of power capacity

A bit of light in the tunnel, from the Financial Times.
I didn't know that renewables had hit this mark already: overtaking coal in electricity production capacity. 
But note the difference between capacity and production. Fossil fuels still produce more electricity than renewables because they generate continuously, as opposed to renewables generating only when the sun shines or wind blows. 
Still it's nice to see some good news on the fighting global warming front. 
It follows an interesting article in the latest Spectator by Matt Ridley, that the world is getting greener, literally. ("Climate of ignorance ", 22 October). [*]
That is, satellite photos apparently show that there are 14% *more* trees and grasses on the globe now than 30 years ago. This is because of "fertilization" by CO2. 
If that's true (and I presume it's confirmable one way or the other, scientifically), then you wouldn't know it from announcements by Friends of the Earth or Greenpeace.