Renewable energies
Renewable energies
Nature and progress go hand in hand to give new life to the Earth thanks to the development of renewable energy.
About renewable energy
Green Energy: The present and future of electricity
Renewable energies are the present and future of the world’s electricity production. The term “renewable” expresses the essence of this type of energy, which is available in spontaneously generated, inexhaustible quantities that are continually renewed in nature without any human intervention.
Sun, wind and water, the heat of the earth: producing renewable energy means using those widespread and abundant elements of nature to generate electricity. Compared to electricity produced from conventional sources, renewable energy drastically reduces levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
All countries in the world share the same need to produce increasingly more renewable energy and to abandon conventional sources. According to data in the latest International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report, in 2019 renewables accounted for three-quarters of the world’s new energy capacity. Today green energy makes up more than a third of total global electricity production.
Renewables are destined to become the most advantageous source of electricity for the planet and for economic development. Because renewable energy, when produced thanks to an integrated vision that spans the entire value chain – from the production site to the suppliers – and with a commitment to mitigating the impacts on local areas and communities, ends up being truly, totally sustainable. Creating shared value, a circular economy approach and commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are the ways renewables reinforce their answer to the one important question: what will be the energy of the future?
Strong points of renewable energy
Nature and innovation for sustainable development
Producing renewable energy is good for the environment, the economy and for people.
Inexhaustible
Renewable resources are always available in nature.
Respect for the environment
Producing energy from renewable resources drastically reduces CO2 emissions.
Versatile
Thanks to various technologies, renewable energy can be produced virtually everywhere in the world.
In constant evolution
Technological innovation makes renewable energy production increasingly more efficient.
Affordable
Large scale renewable energy production is increasingly affordable.
New jobs
The Green Economy has and will continue to create jobs for professionals in this growing sector.
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Use of renewable energy
Developing countries’ energy mix and electrification
The use of renewable energy is two-pronged: producing energy from green sources to tip the overall energy mix scales in favor of renewable energy, and helping people worldwide to have constant safe access to electricity.
Technological innovation helps on both fronts. The increasingly widespread use of renewables is due to continuous improvements in production techniques. Power plants are becoming more and more efficient, making this type of electricity affordable and competitive on the market, so sustainable energy is advantageous for both industrial and household users.
In developing countries, renewable energy is often the only way to electrify entire rural areas. Innovative solutions provide the most disadvantaged communities with stable safe access to the electric grid, and they’ll stand the test of time. Green energy closes the gap in energy access and guarantees the same development opportunities to the entire world.
Renewable energies in Italy
Did you know?
Burlington, the first 100% green city
In 2014, Burlington, Vermont, USA, the world’s first city to rely exclusively on sustainable energy, succeeded in powering 42,000 residents’ homes and businesses in a completely sustainable way.
The energy mix from different renewable sources – mostly wind, water and the sun – is the result of a longstanding strategy, completed in ten years of vision and targeted investments. Burlington is an exemplary model for the rest of Vermont, which, with the example set by its biggest city, aims to get 90% of the entire state’s energy from renewable sources.
“The green wave” is changing electricity supply prospects worldwide. At the end of 2018, over 100 cities across the globe were able to use at least 70% renewable energy to satisfy their energy needs, and around 40 of them, including Basil, Switzerland and Reykjavík, Iceland, went 100% green.