Renewable Energy Shows Record Growth in Power Sector, but Few Gains in Heating and Transport

(Associated Press/Fox Business) The growth of renewable energy outpaced that of fossil fuels in the electricity sector last year, with a record 135 gigawatts of capacity added from wind, solar, hydropower and other natural sources, a new study shows.

That's more than the generating capacity of all nuclear reactors in the United States and slightly less than Germany's installed capacity from all power sources.

The annual report released early Thursday in Europe by Paris-based REN21, a nonprofit group that promotes renewable energy, underscored how China, the world's top consumer of coal, has become a global leader in clean energy, too.

It also highlighted that while renewables now account for 28 percent of the world's electricity-generating capacity, they still account for only a tiny share of how we heat and cool buildings and fuel our means of transportation.

Supporters of renewable energy say the world is already "decoupling" carbon emissions from economic growth, pointing to preliminary data from the International Energy Agency showing that carbon emissions from the energy sector didn't rise last year even though the global economy grew by 3 percent.

In the transport sector, dominated by oil-based fuels, the impact of renewables remained small despite growth in biofuels. In road transport their share was only 3.5 percent in 2014, up from 2 percent in 2007, Lins said. As fuel for jets, renewables are still in the experimental stage. READ MORE and MORE (REN21) Download reports