In April 2024, 95% of Portugal's electricity came from renewable sources, making it a clean energy leader in Europe and for the rest of the world.
Per Euronews Green, this inspiring statistic is just one victory within an overall "continental shift" — in April, "fossil fuels provided less than a quarter of the EU's energy for the first time ever."
Renewable energy comes from sources that are natural and self-replenishing, so they won't run out, according to National Grid. Up to April, 48% of Portugal's renewable energy in 2024 came from hydroelectric plants, 30% from wind, and 7% from solar power.
According to Euronews Green, Portugal has positioned itself for success in a number of ways, including phasing out coal-fired power generation in 2021 and boosting its hydropower fleet with additional storage capacity.
Dirty energy sources, including coal, gas, and oil, are non-renewable. These resources are finite and can take hundreds of thousands of years to form, whereafter they must be extracted from the earth and burned in order to create energy, according to National Grid. Burning dirty fuel is a major contributor to planet-warming pollution in our atmosphere.
Redistributing energy use toward renewable resources will drive progress toward a cleaner, safer future for all, in addition to a cheaper one. Science News Explores reports that decarbonizing energy sources "could save trillions of dollars over the next 20 years or so," according to new research.
Impactful changes to energy use are already being made. In California, renewable energy sources supplied the state with 100% of its needed power for 25 of 32 days. In Nevada, a developing hydro storage project could single-handedly supply the state with an eighth of its needed power.
Per Euronews Green, a clean think tank called Ember has found that more than 30% of the world's electricity is now generated with renewable energy.
"Solar in particular," said Dave Jones, Ember's director of global insights, "is accelerating faster than anyone thought possible."
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