Kees van der Leun
@sustainable2050.bsky.social
8.5K followers 770 following 4.4K posts
39 years of experience in the energy transition. Building Common Futures, a new energy transition consultancy. Posts about energy, climate, Ukraine & more. Also on Mastodon. Reposts not an endorsement, views my own. #EnergySky
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Reposted by Kees van der Leun
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Big news for the energy transition!
And a nice little 'told you so' moment for yours truly :) 🧵

In the first half of this year, renewables produced more electricity globally than coal, for the first time.
Graph showing global electricity from renewables vs coal for H1 of 2019 through 2025, in TWh. Moving from 3400 vs 4500 TWh in 2019 to 5100 vs 4900 TWh in 2025: lines crossing.
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
sustainable2050.bsky.social
And for the standard reply "But India, China, ... are still building X new coal-fired power plants per week/month/year". All fine, but together they were producing less than last year:
Coal fell by 31 TWh (-0.6%) to 4,896 TWh, with its share dropping to 33.1%, down from 34.2%.
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
sustainable2050.bsky.social
It also helped solar + wind together to outpace the rise in global electricity demand, actually reducing the amount of electricity from fossil sources in absolute terms. This caused the first - still very small - decrease in global emissions from electricity production!
Waterfall chart "Growth in solar and wind generation outpace the rise in global electricity demand in H1-2025".
Solar +306 TWh Wind +97 TWh, a bit more nuclear and a bit less hydro, exceeds demand growth of 369 TWh, leading to fossil -27 TWh
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
sustainable2050.bsky.social
And 2025 is the date I predicted for this to happen, back in 2016, in a blog post for Ecofys! The score was 23%-40% at the time, with most of the renewables share still coming from hydro, and the prediction was less than obvious.
My Ecofys blog post of 12 December 2016:
When will renewables overtake coal in generated electricity?

ending in:

The resulting share of renewables in 2015 global electricity production was 23%, according to IEA. For coal this was around 40%. IEA expects the share of renewables to grow at almost 1 percentage point per year, to 28% by 2021, and IEA has a track record of being on the conservative side here. Due to falling costs of wind and solar, and more ambitious policies following the Paris Agreement on climate action, I expect this trend to accelerate.

Given the dominance of coal in the remainder, its share will probably drop by roughly 0.5 percentage point for every percentage point that renewables gain.

In conclusion, I would expect the share of renewable energy in global energy production to overtake that of coal around 2025, with a share of 35% for both. And in view of the climate, we would actually need to get there even quicker.
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
atrupar.com
Q: Are you going to work with your administration to designate antifa a foreign terror organization?

TRUMP: You mean anti-terror?

Q: Antifa

TRUMP: Antifa?

Q: A foreign terror organization

TRUMP: Would you like to see it done? I'd be glad to do it. Does everybody agree? It sounds good to me
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
kyivindependent.com
⚡️Fire breaks out at Russian gas plant after reported drone strike.

A fire allegedly broke out at the Lukoil Korobkovsky gas processing plant in Kotovo, Russia, following a reported drone attack overnight on Oct. 9.
Fire breaks out at Russian gas plant after reported drone strike
A fire allegedly broke out at the Lukoil Korobkovsky gas processing plant in Kotovo, Russia, following a reported drone attack overnight on Oct. 9.
kyivindependent.com
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Perhaps they'll have to change their brand name to Beyond Dead Animals now?
euronews.com
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups.

#EuropeNews
When is a sausage no longer one? EU Parliament answers after grilling
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups.
l.euronews.com
Reposted by Kees van der Leun
carlvo.bsky.social
What many people either don't know or don't care to mention, is that many new coal fired power plants replace existing, far less efficient plans. Sure, replacing coal with WSW is way better, but not every new coal plant adds new coal to the mix.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Perhaps they'll have to change their brand name to Beyond Dead Animals now?
euronews.com
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups.

#EuropeNews
When is a sausage no longer one? EU Parliament answers after grilling
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups.
l.euronews.com
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Perhaps they'll have to change their brand name to Beyond Dead Animals now?
sustainable2050.bsky.social
He knows it's BS. But he trusts enough of his fans will believe it anyway.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
They're not moving very fast.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
And for the standard reply "But India, China, ... are still building X new coal-fired power plants per week/month/year". All fine, but together they were producing less than last year:
Coal fell by 31 TWh (-0.6%) to 4,896 TWh, with its share dropping to 33.1%, down from 34.2%.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Pyrrhic victory for the meat industry.
euronews.com
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups.

#EuropeNews
When is a sausage no longer one? EU Parliament answers after grilling
The European Parliament has voted to ban meat-related terms like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products, prompting backlash from consumer and environmental groups.
l.euronews.com
sustainable2050.bsky.social
It did go down, although still very modestly:
Coal fell by 31 TWh (-0.6%) to 4,896 TWh, with its share dropping to 33.1%, down from 34.2%.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
It also helped solar + wind together to outpace the rise in global electricity demand, actually reducing the amount of electricity from fossil sources in absolute terms. This caused the first - still very small - decrease in global emissions from electricity production!
Waterfall chart "Growth in solar and wind generation outpace the rise in global electricity demand in H1-2025".
Solar +306 TWh Wind +97 TWh, a bit more nuclear and a bit less hydro, exceeds demand growth of 369 TWh, leading to fossil -27 TWh
sustainable2050.bsky.social
And 2025 is the date I predicted for this to happen, back in 2016, in a blog post for Ecofys! The score was 23%-40% at the time, with most of the renewables share still coming from hydro, and the prediction was less than obvious.
My Ecofys blog post of 12 December 2016:
When will renewables overtake coal in generated electricity?

ending in:

The resulting share of renewables in 2015 global electricity production was 23%, according to IEA. For coal this was around 40%. IEA expects the share of renewables to grow at almost 1 percentage point per year, to 28% by 2021, and IEA has a track record of being on the conservative side here. Due to falling costs of wind and solar, and more ambitious policies following the Paris Agreement on climate action, I expect this trend to accelerate.

Given the dominance of coal in the remainder, its share will probably drop by roughly 0.5 percentage point for every percentage point that renewables gain.

In conclusion, I would expect the share of renewable energy in global energy production to overtake that of coal around 2025, with a share of 35% for both. And in view of the climate, we would actually need to get there even quicker.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Big news for the energy transition!
And a nice little 'told you so' moment for yours truly :) 🧵

In the first half of this year, renewables produced more electricity globally than coal, for the first time.
Graph showing global electricity from renewables vs coal for H1 of 2019 through 2025, in TWh. Moving from 3400 vs 4500 TWh in 2019 to 5100 vs 4900 TWh in 2025: lines crossing.
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Those used to be dark at night ;)
sustainable2050.bsky.social
Good evening!
That's the field hockey club in a city nearby.