Countries & Cities That Use The Most Renewable Energy For Electricity

The energy mix of a city is one of the factors that contributes to how sustainable or green a city is.

Across the world, the number of countries and cities getting their electricity from renewable energy sources are increasing.

In this guide, we list the countries and cities that are getting the most of their electricity from renewable energy sources as a % of the overall energy mix.

*Note – It’s likely this list will change significantly from year to year as renewable energy becomes more commonplace and technology continues to advance.

Summary – Countries & Cities That Use The Most Renewable Energy For Electricity

Apart from total MWh, renewable energy use can be measured in terms of total % it makes up of the overall electricity energy sources.

This gives smaller cities and countries a chance to show their level of commitment to renewable energy compared to bigger cities and countries

At the moment, renewable energy hasn’t made enough of a dent in the heating and cooling and transport sectors – electricity generation and consumption is where most of the momentum has been gained

CDP.net has a map that shows that in just the period of 2015 to 2018, the number of cities getting at least 50%, 70% or 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources has increased significantly

As of January 2018, 42 cities were getting at least 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources, 59 cities were at at least 70%, and 22 cities at at least 50% (according to CDP.net’s interactive map)

According to CDP.net, cities are so important to focus on because they ‘are responsible for 70% of energy-related CO₂ emissions … [and have 50% of the world’s population, generate 80% of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of the world’s energy is consumed by cities]

According to wikipedia.org, the number of countries getting at least 90% of their electricity from renewable energy sources was 12 countries

It might be useful to go through each city that has a majority renewable energy mix, and do a full analysis on each in terms of what sources of energy they use specifically, and, what the full range of impacts has been e.g. what the impact has been on electricity variability, electricity prices, and so on.

This guide outlines some case studies of countries that have experienced increased electricity prices, and what may have been the major causes of of the increases

Cities That Use The Most Renewable Energy For Electricity

Out of 620+ global cities that reported to CDP.net, the following is a list of over 100 cities that now get at least 70% of their electricity from renewable sources such as hydro, geothermal, solar and wind:

– CDP.net

You can view a full interactive map of these countries and other countries using renewable energy sources at https://www.cdp.net/en/cities/world-renewable-energy-cities

Examples of cities powered 100% by renewables for electricity are Burlington (USA), Reykjavik (Iceland), and Basel (Switzerland)

– originenergy.com.au

In the United States, 58 cities and towns have now committed to transition to 100% clean

Over 80 UK towns and cities commit to run on 100% clean energy by 2050 …

– cdp.net

Omitted from the CDP’s analysis are a few smaller American towns that lean entirely on renewables including Rock Port, Missouri (100 percent wind), Greensburg, Kansas (wind, solar, geothermal) and Kodiak, Alaska (wind and hydro).

… [of the CDP reported cities] a total of 275 global cities are now using hydropower, 189 are tapping into wind power and 184 have embraced solar photovoltaic panels.

Sixty-five cities harness geothermal energy while 164 generate clean energy using biomass.

– mnn.com

There is a list of cities, towns and countries that are using 90%+ of renewable energy in their electricity mix at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100%25_renewable_energy

Countries That Use The Most Renewable Energy For Electricity

In 2016, the countries that produced 90% or more of their electricity from renewable energy sources were:

Albania – 100%

Democratic Republic Of The Congo – 100%

Iceland – 100%

Paraguay – 100%

Namibia – 99.3%

Costa Rica – 97.7%

Tajikistan – 97.5%

Norway – 97.2%

Uruguay – 96.5%

Zambia – 95%

Ethiopia – 93.6%

Kenya – 90.7%

– wikipedia.org

As a % of total electricity energy mix, you can see the countries that generate the most renewable energy electricity at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_production_from_renewable_sources

The US (at 98), and Germany (at 71), lead the world in cities and regions that are aiming for 100 percent renewable energy

– cleanenergywire.org

A list of cities, counties and states in the US that are aiming for 100% renewable energy power, or are powered by 100% renewable power can be found at https://www.sierraclub.org/ready-for-100/commitments

Which Renewable Energy Sources Are Being Used To Produce Electricity Worldwide?

You can read more in this guide which outlines data on installed capacity, production and consumption of renewable energy sources.

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_electricity_production_from_renewable_sources

2. https://www.cdp.net/en/cities/world-renewable-energy-cities

3. https://www.bettermeetsreality.com/installed-capacity-production-consumption-of-renewable-energy-worldwide-by-country-by-source/

4. https://www.originenergy.com.au/blog/lifestyle/did-you-know-there-are-now-more-than-100-cities-mostly-powered-b.html

5. https://www.cdp.net/en//articles/cities/over-100-global-cities-get-majority-of-electricity-from-renewables

6. https://www.cdp.net/en/cities

7. https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/cities-that-rely-mostly-only-renewable-energy

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100%25_renewable_energy

9. https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-and-us-top-list-countries-most-regions-and-cities-aiming-100-percent-renewable-energy-irena

10. https://www.sierraclub.org/ready-for-100/commitments

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