Renewable Energy News

Some of the world’s largest brands including the BMW Group and Coca-Cola have announced at the Paris climate talks that they will source 100% of their electricity from renewable energy such as solar.

They take the total number of 100% renewables companies (RE100) to 53, joining diverse brands including Microsoft and Google that have committed in the past week.

Companies around the world are increasingly turning to renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) to deliver their electricity needs, according to a global report by Baker & McKenzie.

The report, titled The Rise of Corporate PPAs: A New Driver for Renewables, indicates that a number of businesses are now purchasing electricity under long-term renewable PPAs directly from independent generators, as well as investing in generation assets instead of buying power direct from utilities.

A new report from the Global Carbon Project (GCP) indicates carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are projected to decline by 0.6 per cent this year; even with strong economic growth.

According to the co-author of the report, CSIRO’s Dr Pep Canadell, the biggest contributor to the change has been decreased consumption of coal in China.

“After sustained emissions growth over the past decade, China’s emissions growth slowed to 1.2% in 2014 and is expected to decline by about 4% in 2015,” said Dr Canadell.

Last year, more than half of new energy requirements in China were met from non-fossil fuel sources such as hydro, nuclear, wind energy and solar power.

China (9.7 billion tonnes), the USA (5.6), the EU (3.4) and India (2.6) accounted for almost 60% of global emissions in 2014.

As a result of ongoing high electricity bills; there still appears to be a huge number of Australian households considering solar and also contemplating batteries in order to exercise greater control over energy costs.

According to research released late last week by Energy Consumers Australia; 74% of those surveyed felt their electricity bill was either expensive or very expensive.

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