FAILED PROJECTIONS CONCERNING RENEWABLES SHARE OF U.S. ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Contributed by Robert Lyman © May 2021

In the 1970’s, Amory Lovins projected that renewables would supply 30% of U.S. energy consumption by 2000.

In the 1970’s the Carter Administration predicted that solar energy would supply 20% of U.S. energy consumption by 2000.

In the 1990’s, the Clinton Presidential Advisory Panel predicted that renewables would supply 50% of U.S. energy consumption by 2020.

In the 1990’s, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that renewables would supply 30% of U.S. energy consumption by 2020.

In the 1990’s the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory projected that renewables would supply 25% of U.S. energy consumption by 2030.

In 2020, Mark Jacobson of Stanford University projected that renewables would supply 80% of U.S. energy consumption by 2030.

In 2019, renewables actually supplied only 6% of U.S. energy consumption and 0.5% of Canadian energy consumption.