100% Renewable Energy: Becoming the New Normal?

[bananas]

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/100-renewable-energy-becoming-the-new-normal/

100% Renewable Energy: Becoming the New Normal?
February 22, 2013
By Diane Moss, Founding Director of Renewables 100 Policy Institute

A decade ago, cities, regions, and businesses aiming for 20% renewable energy were on the cutting edge. Few believed that a higher target in a few decades was an achievable goal. Anyone even suggesting a target of 100% renewable energy was a radical. Fast forward to today and in much of Europe, and increasingly in the U.S. and the developing world, 100% renewable energy goals are becoming the new normal.

<snip a dozen examples>

These are just a handful of examples in what amounts to the beginnings of a global movement. Go100Percent.org, a project launched to track 100% renewable energy projects around the world, has mapped more than 8 Countries, 41 Cities, 48 Regions, 8 Utilities, and 21 NonProfit/Educational/Public Institutions that have shifted or are committed to shifting within the next few decades to 100% renewable energy in at least one sector.

While a global shift to 100% renewable energy is often dismissed as a pipe dream, the fact is that it has never been a question of “if.” Basic logic says that non-renewable energy, by definition, is finite and will run out.

The real questions are “when” and “how” to shift to 100% renewable energy. Apparently, more and more people are saying the answer to the “when” question is sooner than later. Significant numbers of companies, cities, municipalities, and countries, such as the examples cited above, are pushing for what not long ago was deemed impossible to consider.

Underscoring the emerging evolution from vision to reality, world leaders in the 100% renewable energy movement will soon gather in San Francisco for the first international conference in North America to discuss the issues around how to make the change. On April 16, 2013, the Pathways to 100% Renewable Energy Conference, organized by Renewables 100 Policy Institute and its Partners, will bring 180 people together from multiple fields, including finance, academia, government, policy, labor, and technology, for an intensive discussion about what is working and how to best overcome the current challenges to achieving the 100% renewable energy targets in all sectors and regions.

<snip>

[AverageJoe90]

1. Good post, bananas.

BTW, I'm thinking about posting this on DailyKos at some point.

[bananas]

2. It is good, isn't it?

What's your dailykos name?