On average our food travels 1,500 miles before it reaches our plate, it requires more calories of fossil fuel inputs than calories we consume. We cannot afford to live like this for much longer. Production of everything we consume worldwide needs to be re-localized to save energy. Experts say oil, natural gas and coal are set to peak and go into decline within the next decade. It’s too late to create technologies to save these resources but to find new and sustainable energy. By the end of this century, nearly all ancient sunlight will be gone and although renewable energy – solar, wind, geothermal – is growing very rapidly it is not on pace to fill the fossil fuel gap, especially not in the United States. However, other countries are aware and are planning for a near-future fossil fuel depletion:

• China

China is the world’s largest energy user, estimated at one fifth of global energy consumption. Within the next fifteen years, China’s energy consumption is expected to increase by 60%. Due to these projections, China has seen sudden shifts in policy regarding coal use as well as coal’s environmental impacts. For example, severe air pollution (that caused 1.2 million premature deaths in 2010) and high water consumption (compounding water scarcity). As a result of research and development, China has become the world’s largest installed capacity of wind and hydroelectric power, with solar heating and biogas installations gaining momentum. In 2013, China was able to install more solar capacity (PV) than the continent of Europe.

China also has a long history of biogas for households, dating back to the 1960s; today, about fifty million households use a total of 16 billion cubic meters of biogas per year. Regionally, wind power is concentrated in the northwest and northeast, solar photovoltaic power is in the northern and western parts, and biomass is concentrated in the central and northern parts depending on type of feedstock, agricultural residue, and waste available. In 2013, China surpassed the United States in terms of total electric power.

• Denmark

Denmark set a new world record for wind production in 2014, sustaining 39.1% of its overall electricity from wind power. By 2020, Denmark is set to power the country with 50% renewables. Denmark was the first to install wind turbines in the mid-1970s and their ambition didn’t stop there. They are expected to be fueled by 100% renewables by 2050. In 2014, surprisingly enough, onshore wind was declared the most affordable form of energy in the country.

• United Kingdom

2014 was the most successful year for wind power in the United Kingdom, a 15% increase from 2013. Wind now generates enough energy to supply the needs of an estimated 6.7 million households. Wind power is generated by a combination of grid-connected wind farms and standalone turbines, producing 9.3% of the UK’s electricity in 2014. In Scotland specifically, the country’s power grid could be 100% fueled by renewables in 2030. “A single 2.5 MW wind turbine in the UK can power the annual needs of over 1,400 households, make 230 million cups of tea, or run the average computer for well over 2,000 years.”

• Germany

Germany holds the most innovative and successful energy sector worldwide. Germany is already more dependent on wind, biomass, and solar energy than burning coal. In other words, Germany has become the world’s first major renewable energy economy. Germany’s Energiewende, or energy transition, designates a significant change in energy policy from 2011. Germany has switched its policy from demand to supply of renewable energy and from centralized to distributed energy generation. The German Renewable Energy Act (German: Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz, EEG) was designed to encourage cost reductions based on improved energy efficiency from economies of scale over time. The Act came into force in the 2000 and has been the spark behind interest in renewable energy production in Germany.

Germany has taken advantage of the global need for renewable energy by employing an estimated 370,000 people in the energy sector (2010 figures). Spreading across Germany’s 357,000 square kilometers, there are more than 23,000 wind turbines and 1.4 million solar PV systems. The German federal government is now taking on the task of increasing renewable energy commercialization. For being a larger country, Germany has surpassed many expectations and is now leading the world in renewable energy production.

• Spain

Renewable energy in Spain accounted for 42.8% of total energy production in 2014, mostly from wind and solar power. Spain is the world’s third largest producer of wind power behind the United States and Germany. Spain might not be leading the world in solar power but they started the movement in Europe. Spain was the first to install a photovoltaic electricity generator in Europe and the second in the world (after Israel) to install solar hot water systems.

Sources:

Click to access delivering-renewable-energy.pdf

Click to access IRENA_REmap_China_report_2014.pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988309000048

http://ecowatch.com/2015/01/09/countries-leading-way-renewable-energy/

http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/index.cfm