HURRAH FOR RENEWABLES PART 1

IN A WORLD BESET WITH AN UNJUSTIFIED (AND LIKELY ILLEGAL) MIDDLE EAST WAR, it’s encouraging that Susanna Twidale reports “Renewables Grew to Almost 50 Percent of Global Electricity Capacity in 2025 After Solar Boost,” Reuters via RNZ (New Zealand Public Broadcasting), April 1, 2026: “Global renewable power capacity reached a record 5149 gigawatts at the end of 2025, up 692 GW from 2024, the data showed.”

Background. Twidale observes, “More than 100 countries at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai in 2023 agreed to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030.” The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) organized COP 28, standing for the 28th meeting of its Conference of the Parties. Results of previous meetings included the Paris Agreement signed in 2016 “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.”

Wikipedia notes, “As of January 2026, 194 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are parties to the agreement. Of the three UNFCCC member states which have not ratified the agreement, the only major emitter is Iran. The United States, the second largest emitter, withdrew from the agreement in 2020, rejoined in 2021, and withdrew again in 2026.” 

Trump and Fossil Thinking. It can be noted, of course, that Biden did the rejoining; Trump, the withdraws. Trump has had a long record of being anti-renewables: “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY.” He is pro-oil: “The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.”

Ha. Who’s the “we” in this? The oil industry? Or the driver filling up at $4-$6/gallon? 

Trump has been anti-solar (the panels take up too much area and are useless at night) and anti-wind (it kills birds, gives whales headaches, and ruins the view at his Scottish golf course).

Now you tell one.

As for the Trump/Netanyahu War. Susanna Twidale quotes Francesco La Camera, director-general of the International Renewable Energy Agency: “The Middle East crisis has, in some ways, confirmed dramatically energy security is not something we can be sure of with fossil fuels.”

And do you spell it “Straight” (as Trump has done) or “Strait,” as it appeared in his (or his ghost-writer’s?) recent crudely worded missive? See “Trump’s Bizarre Easter Post? He Didn’t Write It,” The Borowitz Report, April 6, 2026. 

Returning to Our Topic: Solar Surge. Twidale recounts, “The growth was led by a leap in solar capacity, which grew by 511 GW in 2025 to 2392 GW, confirming its position as the world’s largest renewable source. The figures are far greater than the 116 GW growth in fossil fuel power capacity and took the share of renewables in global electricity capacity to 49.4 percent in 2025, up from 46.3 percent the year before, the data showed.”

And Wind? Twidale notes, “New wind energy installations were 159 GW, taking the total installed capacity to 1291 GW.” Which means that, on a worldwide basis, wind renewables contribute 35 percent of the solar/wind renewables.

And what about hydro? Twidale doesn’t mention it, but I will tomorrow in Part 2.

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2026