To the UNEP : ” In 2009, (…) both the US and Europe added more power capacity from renewable sources such as wind and solar than from conventional sources like coal, gas and nuclear. “
But this is not all as the United Nations give us more details : ” Renewables accounted for 60 % of newly installed capacity in Europe and more than 50 % in the USA in 2009.“
” This year or next, experts predict, the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from renewable than non-renewable sources. “
CleanTechies give us more details about Europe :
The use of renewable sources of energy in Europe continues to grow at a brisk pace and energy efficiency also is improving, significantly reducing reliance on coal and natural gas, according to a new report.
In 2009, renewable energy accounted for 18.4 percent of the European Union’s primary energy production, an increase of 8.3 percent from 2008, according to a report by Eurostat.
Renewable energy sources now account for nearly as much electricity production as natural gas, which supplies 19.3 percent of the continent’s electricity.
The report said that natural gas usage was down 10 percent in 2009 and that use of hard coal decreased by 9 percent. For the sixth consecutive year, “energy intensity” — a measure of how much energy is used to produce a unit of economic input — dropped while GDP continued to increase over the same period.
(…) Meanwhile, energy consumption across the continent fell 5.5 percent in 2009, in part because of the economic recession.
On the very topic, CleanTechnica notes :
The newest Eurostat report on energy production and usage in Europe shows that renewable energy production increased 8.3% and coal consumption dropped 16.3% last year.
In total, renewable energy accounted for 18.4% of energy production and coal accounted for 9.6%.
As I reported earlier this year, the European Union (EU) is expected to exceed its target of producing 20% of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2020.