Dire predictions about green energy were all wrong

TWENTY years ago, former US vice-president Al Gore was travelling the world narrating a slideshow about the perils of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. In 2006, the presentation reached far more people through the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

- DAVID VON DREHLE

Audiences would have been hard-pressed to imagine headlines from two decades later. Such as this one proclaiming, “Solar is EU’s biggest power source”. For the first time, in June, the EU — one of the world’s largest economies — produced more electricity from solar power than from any other source. Three-quarters of EU electricity in June came from non-fossil fuel sources.

According to energy think tank Ember, solar power accounted for 22% of the EU's electricity output for the month, barely more than Europe’s nuclear plants. Natural gas and coal combined did not match either of these. More electricity was generated by wind and water combined than by fossil fuels.