14 DAY TRIAL // Just a few days ago, it was announced that, in 2014, the UK set a new record in that it managed to have wind meet the energy demand of over 25% of all households in the country. As it turns out, Denmark had a pretty good year as well, at least as far as wind power production is concerned.
Thus, recent figures shared with the public by the country's Climate and Energy Ministry says that, last year, wind turbines operating across Denmark produced enough electricity to account for nearly 40% of the overall energy demand, homes and businesses included.
Setting a new record in terms of clean energy production
It is understood that, in 2004, wind energy accounted for merely 18.8% of Denmark's overall electricity production. Last year, on the other hand, this clean energy source is said to have accounted for an impressive 39.1% of the country's total consumption.
Just to put things into perspective, it must be said that, in January 2014 alone, wind turbines up and running across the country's territory coughed out enough energy to provide for 61.4% of the total electricity consumption documented for this month.
“These are incredible figures,” Climate and Energy Minister Rasmus Helveg Petersen told the press in an interview. “We still plan to put up more wind turbines. We are moving forward and we have more targets,” the Minister went on to explain.
Denmark has some pretty big plans for the future
As shown by several studies, global warming and climate change are progressing at a rapid pace. In fact, it looks like time is running out to limit the increase in global warming to just 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which is considered to be the threshold we and our planet can handle.
By the looks of it, Denmark has taken it upon itself to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a considerable extent and thus put a leash on said phenomena. Simply put, the country has high hopes that, soon enough, its energy sector will be way greener than it was at the beginning of the century.
According to Phys Org, Denmark expects that, come 2020, renewables will account for 50% of its overall electricity consumption and that, by 2050, it will be fossil-fuel free. The move should help the country improve on its ecological footprint and, in doing so, limit climate change and global warming.
It is estimated that, presently, Denmark is home to about 5,200 operational wind turbines. Of these, 25 sit in waters off the country's coastline. To meet its target to have clean energy sources make up 50% of its energy demand by the year 2020, the country will surely have to make further investments in green technologies.