“Almost three-quarters of new electricity generation capacity built in 2019 uses renewable energy, representing an all-time record.”

Here’s the last 20 years’ data:

The elephant in the room of course is that this is from “new” sources, so it’s on top of current electricity generation, rather than replacing it.

“Fossil fuel power plants are in decline in Europe and the US, with more decommissioned than built in 2019. But the number of coal and gas plants grew in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In the Middle East, which owns half the world’s oil reserves, just 26% of new electricity generation capacity built in 2019 was renewable.”

There is still good news to be had though:

“New data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) shows solar, wind and other green technologies now provide more than one-third of the world’s power, marking another record.”

All of this only really matters if the total amount of fossil fuels burned for power decreases absolutely. We’re still not there yet. The percentage of energy generated by green sources has to continue to rise, and the total fossil fuel output has to decrease before you’ll see me grinning like a madman.