The boom in renewable energy being led by China, India, Europe, the United States and Japan is key to the mitigation of carbon emissions (see Nature 507, 300–302; 2014). Last year marked an important turning point for China's renewable-energy revolution in particular, with water, wind and solar sources accounting for more electricity-generating capacity (59%) than new fossil-fuel or nuclear facilities (41%; see go.nature.com/z6job5).
China generated 5,322 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, of which 74% came from coal-fired power stations (a marked improvement on the 80% mentioned by some researchers; see D. Helm Nature 491, 663–665; 2012). The balance was contributed primarily by hydropower (17%), wind (2.6%), nuclear (2.1%) and solar sources (0.16%). Water, wind and solar energy therefore account for one-fifth of electricity generated in China — anticipating by two years the target that the country set for 2015.
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Mathews, J., Tan, H. China leads the way on renewables. Nature 508, 319 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/508319a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/508319a
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