Direction: Read the following information carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Renewable Energy (RE) is the future. With that said, one can argue that the future has arrived, in parts at least. Worldwide acceptance towards green energy is giving the sustainable energy sector more market share every year. The growth is consistent, with each year out-performing the previous, leading renewable energy to account for 1/3rd of global energy capacity.
It’s fair to state that the growth trajectory is incredible, and considering that it took only a little more than a just decade to reach this position, we could call it _____________. However, the most important question is, is this satisfactory? The goal of green energy transition is to solve growing energy scarcity and reduce dependency on fossil fuels in order to move towards a fully sustainable energy landscape. Therefore, to identify success, we need to compare renewable energy growth with the current scenario.
According to WHO’s estimates, currently, more than 7 million people die every year from pollution, up from 4.2 million in 2016. Fossil fuel consumption has increased globally from 94,462/twh in 2000 to 1,33,853/twh now. The rise in population (currently 7.7 billion) indicates a steady growth in energy demand worldwide. In comparison, the fact that renewable energy took a decade to become 1/3 of energy capacity is not the ideal pace, considering we might not have two more decades to wait for RE to catch up.