Non-hydro renewable energy--wind, solar, biomass, geothermal--has been on a tear since 2007, the year coal-generation peaked. The growth numbers are simply astonishing.
Starting at a base of 105 billion Kwhs in 2007, electricity generation from non-hydro renewable energy resources skyrocketed 120% to 218 billion Kwhs or an increase of 113 billion Kwhs in just 5 years.
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_03_01_a.html.
Another way to measure the jump in non-hydro renewable energy generation is in households served. In 2007, non-hydro renewable energy sources generated enough electricity to meet the annual needs of 10.5 million homes. But by 2013, they were producing power for nearly 22 million homes. Wow!
Hydro itself produces enough power for typically between 24 million to more than 30 million homes each year. And so, in combination, the non-hydro renewable energy generators are nearly as big as hydro. Renewable generated electricity already is big business, vital to America's consumers, economy, power markets, and economy. And it is rapidly getting bigger still!
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