14 DAY TRIAL // This past Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the United States released a new report documenting the amount of energy generating capacity added in the country throughout the course of the month of January.
In this report, the Commission details that, all in all, the United States installed a total of 325 megawatts of new capacity in said month.
Of these, 287 megawatts came from solar, 30 megawatts came from geothermal, and 4 megawatts resulted from harvesting wind power.
Biomass energy was also present in the mix, and accounted for 3 megawatts of the added energy generating capacity, Think Progress reports.
These figures mean that, in this year's January, some 99% of the new power capacity that was installed across the United States came from green energy sources.
Despite this noteworthy interest in harvesting renewables, the fact remains that, for the time being, the country is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
More precisely, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says that, according to information as hand, green sources, including hydropower, currently make up just 16% of the energy generating capacity installed and operational in the United States.
Otherwise put, the country still has a long way to go before fossil fuels quit being the energy source that provides most of the power used by Americans on a yearly basis.
The good news is that, as shown by several reports, the country is indeed taking steps towards embracing renewables and consequently reducing its annual greenhouse gas emissions.
Thus, in October 2013, 99% of the 699 megawatts added came from renewables. The following month, green sources accounted for as much as 100% of the country's added capacity.
Interestingly enough, the United States is also looking to boost its use of nuclear power. In fact, it was just a few days ago when the news broke that the country was to add two new reactors to a plant in the state of Georgia.