When the Optimist Daily was just getting started, powering the world via renewable energy was still somewhat of a pipe dream. In the last few years, we’ve witnessed rapid progress when it comes to renewables for a number of reasons.
First, the cost of producing solar panels and wind turbines, as well as batteries have plummeted, encouraging more countries to bet on renewables.
Second, China has sparked a green energy revolution in Asia. In 2018 alone, Asia accounted for 61 percent of total new renewable energy installations.
These two things, along with the increasing use of geothermal energy, have led us to an exciting new milestone; according to a new report, one-third of all global power capacity comes from renewable energy. The report shows that the decade-long trend of strong growth in renewable energy capacity continued in 2018 with global additions of 171 gigawatts. The report also suggests the trend of increased clean energy will continue into 2019.