A 100-Percent-Renewable Electric Grid Is Doable

It’s no secret that co-ops and condos are among New York City’s leaders in embracing solar energy. With good reason. Despite significant improvements, buildings continue to be the biggest contributors to the city’s output of greenhouse gases.

So it was big news last year when the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that for the first time, two forms of renewable energy – wind and solar – accounted for 10 percent of all electricity generated nationwide. Naysayers point out that the Holy Grail of a 100-percent-renewable electric grid is still 90 percent away – which is to say, impossible.

Don’t tell that to the people of Iceland or Paraguay. A new report from the EIA reveals that both countries have achieved a 100-percent-renewable electric grid. They’re followed closely by Costa Rica (99 percent), Norway (98.5 percent), Austria (80 percent). Brazil (75 percent) and Denmark (69.4 percent). Regions of Germany, New Zealand, and Canada have reached 100 percent renewables as well, Solar One reports. In all these cases, the grids are powered by a mix of renewable technologies, including hydropower, solar, wind, and geothermal. 

Could the U.S. be next? In 2016, researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded that just by making improvements in transmission infrastructure using existing technology, “the United States could slash greenhouse gas emissions from power production by up to 78 percent below 1990 levels within 15 years while meeting increased demand.”

According to the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy sources accounted for almost two-thirds of the net increase in power capacity around the world in 2016.

Maybe a 100-percent-renewable electric grid isn’t impossible, after all. Maybe it’s inevitable.