In his speech on Tuesday, President Obama announced several aspects of his climate change plan, including the importance of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by power plants around the country by implementing new power plant pollution standards. The plan also includes goals for promoting more carbon-free energy sources and raising energy efficient standards for consumer products. The President also delivered shout outs to the state of Iowa for its use of wind energy—Iowa generates 25 percent of its energy from wind power—and Walmart for its effort to reduce carbon emissions. Furthermore, the President explained how new steps must be taken in addition to building on progress already in motion.
Elsewhere this week, the International Energy Agency published its Medium-Term Market Report for 2013, which provided insight into future growth for the renewable energy sector. According to the report’s executive summary, the role of renewable sources continues to increase at a rapid pace. Global renewable electricity generation should rise from 19 percent of gross power generation in 2006 to 26 percent in 2018. During that same period, non-hydro renewable energy is expected to grow from 2 percent in 2006 to 8 percent in 2018—a fourfold increase. The role of biofuel for transportation and renewable heat are also increasing, though at a slower rate of 25 percent from 2012 to 2018. The report also addressed global deployment and predicted that renewable power will continue to expand geographically and become increasingly competitive. That should help set the stage for a transition to a low-carbon economy, which we at Microsoft remain committed to through sustainable IT innovation.