Categories: CommentaryRenewables

The week in green numbers ….

Published by

Some lofty new green goals for the US Navy’s ashore energy use; a mini-solar boom triggered by the man trying to knock Queensland solar on the head; and the NOAA calls it how they see it on the past year of weather in the US. Welcome to the week that was in green numbers…

2020: The year by which the US Navy aims to cut its ashore power consumption in half, source half of its energy from renewables, and make its bases net-zero consumers of energy.

75,000: The number of applications by Queenslanders for rooftop solar received in the 13 days after Premier Campbell Newman announced the government would be cutting the state’s PV tariff from $0.44c to $0.08c.

710: The gigawatt amount of renewable energy capacity IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven said the agency expects to be installed in the next five years – a 45 per cent jump over the previous five years.

148: The number – out of 151 – of South Korea’s voting politicians who supported the passage of the nation’s ETS legislation.

1 in 1,594,323: The odds, according to the NOAA, of it being a random climate occurrence that, during the June 2011-June 2012 period in the US, each of the 13 consecutive months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record.

69: The percentage of energy lost – mainly through waste heat – in the production of thermal electricity in the UK.

15: The percentage of Australian electricity bills attributable to the overall cost of retailers – the cost of packaging up your bill and collecting money from customers.

3 billion: The Australian-dollar amount that a report found had been added to customers’ power bills due to the nation’s flawed system gov­erning distribution companies.

10 trillion: The number of kilowatt-hours per year that global energy consumption for cooling is projected to grow by – equal to half of the world’s entire electricity supply today.

Sophie Vorrath

Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

Turbine giant lands contract for Australia’s biggest wind project in two years, its second deal in two days

Vestas has landed a contract to supply turbines to the biggest wind project to begin…

30 September 2026

We must plan for coal mine closures, not approve them because we lack a plan 

I spent all my working life in coal mines before retiring in 2020. Since then…

30 September 2026

El Niño nears record levels as ocean conditions tilt in unfavourable direction for eastern Australia

BoM chart shows giant El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific is nearing record weekly…

30 September 2026

The revolutionary methane detection technology that probably won’t fit into our regulatory box

Report suggests focus has shifted from how we can leverage rapidly improving emissions measurement technologies,…

30 September 2026

“Staring down the climate crisis:” New Greens leaders promise to take fight to One Nation – and to Labor

The Australian Greens has named its new leaders, in a move the party says will…

30 September 2026

“Largest climate policy failure:” Giant NSW coal mine extension approved, with conditions attached

Controversial plan to extend one of Australia's biggest coal mines for almost two decades secures…

30 September 2026