What? Already 97% of electricity is produced by wind

It was just three years ago that the Scottish people were pleased to hear that they reached a turning point. The department of Energy and Climate Change statistics announced that a third of Scotland’s power came from renewable energy.

Fast forward 3 years and the Scotts proved a transition to renewable energy is not only feasible, but can also happen extremely quickly. Cleantechnica reported this week that wind turbines generated enough electricity to meet the needs of 97% of Scottish households last year, up 16% from the year before. Meanwhile solar also soared, providing 50% or more of the household electricity or hot water needs during a total of seven months of the year.

Keeping in mind that the Scottish government set the ambitious goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2020, that’s pretty amazing that 5 years before deadline, the Scotts are practically there. Sure, it’s not all electricity produced, it does not include industrial and business demand, but perhaps next year the Scottish wind empire can supply that as well.

But now the striking ability of the small country to grow its renewables led it to rethink its goals. Scottish Renewables, a clean energy industry group, is calling for Scotland to scale up its ambitions—gunning for a total of 50% renewable energy across electricity, heating and transportation needs. Niall Stuart, the organization's Chief Executive, argued on the group’s website that this is not all that farfetched:

“Scotland’s ambitious climate change and 2020 renewable energy targets have signaled a clear intent for the country to lead the way in the transition to a low-carbon economy. With only four years to go, it is now time to look beyond 2020 and for Scotland to set a stretching target for renewables to produce the equivalent of at least 50% of all energy use across electricity, heat, and transport by 2030. That may seem ambitious but we will be more than halfway there by the end of this decade, and Sweden - the European leader - already sources half of all energy from renewables today."

The Scottish and Swedes join another amazing demonstration from last year: Costa Rica. the small pearl of south America has produced 99% of its Electricity in 2015 from renewable sources. The bulk of its power generation comes from hydropower thanks to a large river system and heavy tropical rainfalls. The rest is made up of a mix of geothermal energy, which the country is also rich in, wind, biomass and solar power.

Last November a Stanford study said that the world could be fully powered by renewables by 2050. Critics called this a bluff, but more and more countries from around the world demonstrate that this goal can be reached faster than we all think.