Discover the Power: 14 Surprising and Entertaining Facts About Renewable Energy You'll Love

1. A Megawatt Martini

A gust of wind walks into a bar and says, "I'll have a megawatt, shaken not stirred": With just one megawatt of electricity generated by a wind turbine, hundreds of homes can be powered annually, thriving on breezes between 30 and 55 mph. Although wind energy can't be the only renewable energy source due to its fickle nature, the industry is soaring high, with a 44% growth expected in the next decade, leading to wind turbine technician becoming one of America's fastest-growing occupations.
Source => greenmatters.com

2. Pocketful of Green Jobs

Who knew that saving the environment could be as simple as lining our pockets with green? Giving Mother Nature a bear hug and our wallets a fat pat is as easy as one, two, wind turbine threes: For every dollar invested in renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, three times more jobs are created than in the fossil fuel industry, according to the International Energy Agency. And by 2030, we might be looking at a 9 million job boom, resulting in an overall net gain in energy sector employment with 14 million new clean energy jobs, just by hopping aboard the climate-friendly express!
Source => un.org

Did you know the sun generously gifts us more energy in just an hour than the whole world consumes in a year? Discover how solar panels help harness this cosmic power for a sustainable future.

=> Fun Facts about Solar-Energy

3. Fossil Fuels' New Boss

Step aside, fossil fuels – there's a new boss in town, and it's a gust of change: Renewable energy created 2.39 million jobs in the U.S. in 2019 alone, dwarfing the 1.23 million jobs in traditional fossil fuel sectors. Not only that, but jobs in solar and wind energy installations are expected to breeze past national growth rates, making it a sun-sational field to jump into.
Source => citizensclimatelobby.org

4. The Gusty Growth of Wind

Hold on to your hats, wind enthusiasts: Wind energy had a "gusty" 2019 as the fastest-growing source of renewable energy, experiencing a 17% surge in global electricity generation from its powerful turbines, says the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
Source => ourworldindata.org

5. Yearly Power in an Hour

Hold onto your beach towels, sun worshippers, because this fact is hotter than a midday sunburn: In one blazing hour, our bright-eyed and shiny-topped celestial BFF sends enough energy to Earth to power all of humanity's needs for an entire year – we just haven't quite figured out how to efficiently catch and store all those zesty sunbeams yet. Fear not, sunny optimists, the race for renewable energy keeps beaming forward, and with every technological stride toward solar power, we're inching closer to basking in the glory of sustainable energy from our fiery sky giant.
Source => businessinsider.com

6. Renewable Superheroes Unite

When solar cells and wind turbines form an eco-friendly Justice League: In 2021, these renewable-energy superheroes combined forces to make up nearly 90% of the 522 TWh increase in global renewable electricity generation, while hydropower generation faced its Kryptonian downfall, decreasing for the first time in 20 years due to dastardly droughts.
Source => iea.org

7. America's Smoldering Gifts

Uncle Sam's got a penchant for burning wood and sharing smoldering gifts with the world: The United States was a net exporter of biomass energy in 2021, with densified biomass fuels like wood pellets becoming an increasingly hot commodity.
Source => eia.gov

8. Earth's Supernova Soiree

Planet Earth: Home to eight billion people, countless creatures, and one truly impressive hot mess. Believe it or not, our home-base ball of dirt is rocking a fiery core that's hotter than a supernova's summer soiree: Earth's inner core sizzles at temperatures up to 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit! Geothermal energy, courtesy of radioactive particles playing a thrilling game of "unstable decay" in the core, radiates that heat up through Earth's many layers. With a little help from quaking tectonic plates, magma can shimmy its way to the surface, getting the party started with volcanoes. Beyond stealing attention on the dance floor, this geothermal heat has some practical uses too, like heating buildings, treating us to steamy baths, and even generating electricity.
Source => eia.gov

9. Algae-Way to Biofuels

Navigating the algae-way to a greener future, our aquatic allies may just have the power to fuel your ride: NREL's algal biofuels research develops cost-effective commercialization for the entire value chain from strain identification to biofuel upgrading, preparing a sustainable workforce for the future!
Source => nrel.gov

10. Gentle Breezes, Big Power

Who needs a breeze when you can power your phone with a brisk walk? Wind turbines better watch their backs because there's a cool new kid on the block: researchers in China have developed a nanogenerator that can harvest energy from breezes as gentle as 1.6 m/s (3.6 mph), boasting a 3.23% wind-to-energy conversion efficiency. These nifty devices –made of two plastic strips fluttering together in a tube– have the potential to power small electronics and could even be scaled up to produce 1,000 watts in areas where traditional turbines can't reach.
Source => sciencedaily.com

11. Gym-Generated Energy

Who needs the Energizer Bunny when you can have gym-goers powering the joint: The Green Microgym in Portland, Oregon, is the first US fitness center to harness both solar power and the sweat equity of its patrons on human-powered cardio machines, generating up to 600 watts of energy per hour. This eco-friendly gym also features energy-efficient treadmills, solar panel awnings, and low-energy ceiling fans, while boasting a clientele that mostly walks to this neighborhood marvel, leaving no carbon footprints all around.
Source => digitaljournal.com

12. Colossal Offshore Wind Farm

Winds of change might blow our way, but the electricity generated literally blows the roof off: the world's largest offshore wind farm sprawls over a staggering 335 square miles, cranking out enough juice to power more than 2 million humble abodes on the daily.
Source => cbsnews.com

13. Solar Panels' Water Whisper

Who knew solar panels were part fish? These sun-sucking wonders are water whisperers, barely making a splash when they power up a storm: In fact, generating electricity with solar panels uses as little as 1/200th of the water that a traditional power plant gulps down, according to a 2015 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency – which translates to SolarCity's solar energy systems preventing over 32 billion gallons of water use in America's power plants in 2015 alone.
Source => diygogreen.com

14. Renewable Jobs Powerhouse

Solar panels, wind turbines, and green dreams: Who knew saving the planet could be such a full-time job? Well, hold onto your reusable bags with pride, because in 2018, the renewable energy sector was a veritable jobs powerhouse, providing 855,000 direct and indirect positions in the United States alone, and a whopping 11 million jobs globally, as showcased by a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Source => eesi.org