The amount of renewable energy is increasing throughout the globe. In fact, now over 100 cities worldwide are now powered by renewable energy. The price of renewable energy is dropping significantly, and as a result, many cities are stopping their use of fossil-fuel based energy systems.
Cities With Renewable Energy
These cities get at least 70% of their energy from renewable energy. This is up from 42 cities in 2017, before the Paris Climate Agreement started. 40% of the 100 cities are 100% powered by renewable energy. This includes Burlington, Vermont, USA, which gets their energy from wind, solar, hydro, and biomass. 58 other U.S. major cities have made plans to do the same.
The CDP, a top climate change research organization, found an interesting fact. As of now, Latin American cities lead the renewable energy charge, with much of their electricity coming from hydroelectricity. Of the cities getting at least 70 percent of their power from renewable energy, 57 percent are in Latin America.
The Most Common Form of Renewable Energy
They also found that hydroelectricity is the most common form of renewable energy, seconded by wind, and then solar. The cities in the CDP survey used a mix of energy sources: 275 use hydroelectricity, 189 rely on electricity from wind and 184 use solar energy. Also in the mix are biomass, used by 164 cities, and geothermal, used by 65 cities.
Nationwide Plans
Reykjavik, Iceland, gets all its electricity from geothermal and hydroelectricty, and is attempting to convert its entire vehicle fleet—both public and private—to "fossil free" by 2040. Basel, Switzerland's third largest city, gets most of its power from hydroelectricity, plus 10 percent from wind.
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