Mastodawn

↸ ⏚Jan 22

@claesdevreese But Trump dislikes wind turbines, so what's Ushi von der Leyen gonna do?

zimward Jan 22

@claesdevreese sadly that's only true if looks at electricity production exclusively. in total most of primary energy is still sourced from fossil fuels (ie. heating, etc)

@zimward @claesdevreese There is increasing electrification of heating though via heat pumps.

zimward Jan 22

@ariaflame @claesdevreese sure, but at the current rate it will take many decades to remove all usage of fossil fuels, especially in transportation and the industrial sector

@zimward @claesdevreese Possibly, but it is ramping up faster than people expected, and the more renewables come online, the easier it is to make more renewables cleanly. And while it would be nice to remove all usage, I suspect we won't get to that point, the point is to reduce the usage to the point where the planet can cope.

zimward Jan 22

@ariaflame @claesdevreese the point where the effects are manageable already requires negative emissions though. but it is indeed nice to see that some trends aren't working against us. but one still has to be careful and not focus on just electricity since the grand total still looks pretty bleak.

@zimward @claesdevreese Negative net emissions. So we need plants etc. to be absorbing more than we are emitting. There are sinks for the gases. We can shift some of our other energy usage to electricity which we can fuel by RE. We can use solar for heat generation for at least low level heat requirements. It's possible, the trick is to make it affordable and appealing at the same time as making using fossil fuels unaffordable and unappealing.

Philipp Schwendke Jan 22

@claesdevreese That is indeed feel-good news! I still wonder what the other third is.

Kuba Orlik Jan 22

@claesdevreese what's the remaining 40%? 🤔

Albert Cardona Jan 22

@kuba @claesdevreese

Possibly nuclear and "biomass".

toadjaune Jan 22

@albertcardona @kuba @claesdevreese there's also hydroelectricity, geothermal...

lesbian propaganda (211695-343)Jan 22

@toadjaune @albertcardona @kuba @claesdevreese https://www.elsaltodiario.com/energia/solar-generaron-electricidad-combustibles-fosiles

spanish independent media translated into a full graph showing more info

La eólica y la solar generaron más electricidad que los combustibles fósiles en la UE por primera vez en 2025

El sol y el viento generaron el 42% de la energía eléctrica en España el pasado año, con récord en la solar, que alcanzó el 22% de la cuota de mercado, según se desprende del 'European Electricity Review 2026' que acaba de publicar Ember.

El Salto Diario

@echedellelr @toadjaune @kuba @claesdevreese

Albert Cardona Jan 23

Unfortunately, the news are about electricity only, not about total energy usage. There, gas, coil and oil combined amount to ~70% of all energy:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/energy-consumption-by-source-and-country?country=~OWID_EU27

Energy consumption by source

Measured in terms of primary energy using the substitution method.

Our World in Data

toadjaune Jan 23

@albertcardona @echedellelr @kuba @claesdevreese very true, but that's still a nice, symbolic milestone !

haaflife Jan 22

@albertcardona @kuba @claesdevreese didn't the EU also classify gas as renewable energy or did I mix something up?

@haaflife @kuba @claesdevreese

Albert Cardona Jan 22

Wouldn't surprise me, since e.g., the UK also considers "biomass" as renewable – except they import wood pellets from taiga (northern forests) with catastrophic consequences.
https://forestlitigation.org/cases/challenging-draxs-greenwashing-uk/

👀Jan 22

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/klima/se-eu-landenes-energirekorder-danmark-bedst-paa-sol-og-vind

Se EU-landenes energirekorder: Danmark bedst på sol- og vind

For første gang skabte vind og sol skabte mere el, end fossil energi gjorde, i EU i 2025. Se, hvordan EU-landene har bidraget til den rekord.

Otte Homan - remember Geordie Jan 22

@claesdevreese I love how the Danes are juxtaposing images of Denmark and Germany in this context 🙂

Src: https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/klima/se-eu-landenes-energirekorder-danmark-bedst-paa-sol-og-vind

Nicole Parsons Jan 22

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/21/carbon-dioxide-co2-emissions-fossil-fuel-firms-study

1. Want Ukraine to remain a sovereign nation?

Phase out Russian fossil fuel use.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-20/russia-s-oil-exports-falter-amid-plunging-deliveries-to-india

2. Want to prevent a catastrophic AI bubble?

Phase out OPEC fossil fuel use.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/technology/saudi-arabia-ai-exporter.html

3. Want America to remain a democracy?

Phase out Koch Network fossil fuel use.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/us/politics/koch-network-2024-election-trump.html

4. Want a habitable planet?

Phase out fossil fuel use.
https://time.com/7353478/davos-climate-leadership-end-fossil-fuel-era/

Szewek Jan 22

@claesdevreese In other news: The US is very mad at what Europe has become.

[AF]2050 Jan 22

@claesdevreese Niceeeeeeeee

@claesdevreese is the framing here a little odd? I only read the auto-translation, why do they treat hydro-electric and other renewables differently?

Sounds like the big milestone might be 2026 if 50% EU wide electricity comes from renewable sources(currently 49%)

@marv51 @claesdevreese Possibly because some of the hydro is storage, so the water pumped up to the upper reservoir is powered by energy from sources including fossil fuels.

@ariaflame @claesdevreese I see around 10% of hydro might be from pump storage.
Wouldn't logically almost all the energy stored in a pump storage come from wind and solar?

@marv51 @claesdevreese Maybe, maybe not. Pumped storage is used to store any excess energy in the system. In the past at least that included fossil fuel systems which are very difficult to ramp down and up, so it was easier during periods of low demand (such as overnight) to keep going at a higher level and put the excess into storage for the next day's morning peak.

@ariaflame @claesdevreese Yeah no, I don't think that pump storage has anything to do with it. I found a second Danish newsarticle, that explains why they like this "solar + wind" framing:

"Denmark occupies its place as the EU country with the highest share of solar and wind energy in the entire EU - 71 percent."(https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/klima/se-eu-landenes-energirekorder-danmark-bedst-paa-sol-og-vind)

Se EU-landenes energirekorder: Danmark bedst på sol- og vind

For første gang skabte vind og sol skabte mere el, end fossil energi gjorde, i EU i 2025. Se, hvordan EU-landene har bidraget til den rekord.

@marv51 @claesdevreese That doesn't seem to mention hydro so I'm not sure what the relevance to the conversation is

@ariaflame @claesdevreese
Q was: Why does this Danish news org frame the progress with renewables this way? Why is solar + wind being larger than fossil significant, when renewable overall are *much* larger than fossil.

Your theory: Because hydro storage might contain non-renewable electricity.

After some research, my likely answer:
Danish news likes this view, because Denmark has the largest solar + wind percentage in the EU. (But not the highest percentage of renewables over all)

@marv51 @claesdevreese I suspect I did not read the question that way. I speculated about a reason why hydro-electric and other renewables might be treated differently. Then when you asked if the pumped hydro wouldn't all be solar and wind powered I answered that. Whether that is the reason I don't know. It was not a theory, merely a hypothesis.

Wulfy—Speaker to the machines Jan 22

@marv51 @ariaflame @claesdevreese

IMHO Pump storage is not green.
It's claimed it is, but you could by using brown coal offpeak to push the water uphill.
It's purely an economic gimmick.

Bram Koster Jan 22

@claesdevreese Yes, indeed good news that for the first time solar and wind energy surpass fossil energy production in Europe! For those who like to read more about it: go to https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/01/EMBER-Report-European-Electricity-Review-2026.pdf Many more facts and graphs on #electricity and #cleanenergy can be found here. #ClimateChange #sustainability #ember #EuropeanUnion

Juho Mäntysalo Jan 22

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_statistics_-_an_overview

What good news, and more importantly: the trends look positive absolutely as well.

Often one hears that the increase in solar in relation to fossils doesn't in actuality mean decrease of fossils, but slower increase compared to renewables.

Poligofsky 🇨🇦 .. 🚫🤖Jan 22

It is misleading to use the word “energy” when you mean “electricity”.

Parttimesailor Jan 22

@claesdevreese This kind of info is great, but are we reducing fossil fuels or just increasing our energy use?

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-fossil-fuel-consumption

void friend Jan 22

@claesdevreese Also true: the world never used more fossil fuel than in 2024 which beat 2023 which beat 2022.

It doesn't help to produce more solar and wind energy if we also produce more fossil fuel energy. It could become 1% of the total energy used and would still increase the proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere, leading to climate change and its consequences. The use of fossil fuel would need to go down in absolute terms for us to start to deviate from the path to destruction on which we are still currently accelerating.

Global fossil fuel consumption

Measured in terawatt-hours of primary energy consumption.

Our World in Data

Justin Derrick Jan 22

@claesdevreese Heh. The wind turbine icon looks like a plane. I couldn't understand how a plane was green energy... They should rotate the blades 20° or so...

Peter Brown Jan 22

@claesdevreese has anybody done a projection of when the you will no longer import Russian or US gas?

@iveyline Jan 23

@claesdevreese Good news.

Frank Reiff Jan 23

@claesdevreese @siracusa Yes, and to celebrate this the US Treasury Secretary delivers an incendiary speech about how we have fallen into the Chinese trap with all our solar and wind farms.. and we should buy clean, pure and ethical US fossil fuels.. or else. 🤷‍♂️

̶s̶e̶t̶h̶ ̶ ̶Jan 23

Me: Where does the other 41% of...
Europe: It's not important, we don't talk about it.

Koochulainn Jan 24

@claesdevreese 100% supportive of the move to renewables, but that graph seems very fishy.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/interactive-publications/energy-2025

Nu Modular Jan 24

@claesdevreese With the increase in authoritarian autocracies globally, the push for fossil fuels to destabilize accurate climate and baseload power data, is increasing even more. Fossil fuels wealth is behind much of this Divide and Conquer Strategy, and more politicians are willing advocates.

Lorenzo Isella Jan 27

@claesdevreese Are we talking about *electricity* production only, or *energy* production, which is much more general (e.g.the airplanes fly by burning fossil fuel, so they use that to produce energy). Do you have a more official reference? Because I remember vaguely that electricity production was only a slice of energy production. See for instance https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20260121-1 and https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20260114-1