--- title: Renewable Energy Growth Outpaces Fossil Fuels description: A new report shows that renewable energy is growing at record pace compared to new fossil fuel additions. canonical: https://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-08T15:56:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:10:26.986Z article:section: Science og:title: Renewable Energy Continues to Beat Fossil Fuels og:description: According to a new report og:url: https://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c52df831e94d879/6988b931fb4eacdfd7890aeb/solar-power-renewable-energy.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: solar power renewable energy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Renewable Energy Continues to Beat Fossil Fuels twitter:description: According to a new report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c52df831e94d879/6988b931fb4eacdfd7890aeb/solar-power-renewable-energy.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Renewable Energy Continues to Beat Fossil Fuels  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 8, 2017 3:56 PM UTC  An array of photovoltaic solar panels at the Berliner Wasserbetriebe are seen on April 30, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. An array of photovoltaic solar panels at the Berliner Wasserbetriebe are seen on April 30, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.Andreas Rentz—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 8, 2017 3:56 PM UTC Clean energy grew at a record pace as the United States added 22GW of capacity — the equivalent of 11 Hoover Dams — to the grid from renewable sources last year, significantly trumping new fossil fuel additions, according to a new [report](http://www.bcse.org/sustainableenergyfactbook). The report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) cites the declining cost of wind and [solar power](http://time.com/4662221/solar-jobs-growth/), largely due to advances in technology, as prime reasons for the rapid adoption of renewables. The cost of building large utility-scale solar photovoltaic power plants for example has been fallen by 50% in just five years. Renewable energy companies have also benefited from the quick decline in coal power that has resulted from a combination of factors including stiff competition from cheap natural gas and environmental regulation. Coal-fired power plants now provide only 30% of the country’s electricity compared with nearly half of the supply in 2008. **Read More:** [This Climate Change Measure Has Fossil Fuel Companies and Green Groups Working Together](http://time.com/4662190/climate-change-green-fossil-fuel-companies-carbon/) “The contributions of sustainable energy to the country’s economic competitiveness are direct, dramatic and dynamic,” says Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, a non-profit that promotes market solutions to environmental issues, in a press release. **Read More:** [Scientists Accidentally Discover Method to Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Ethanol](http://time.com/4536708/carbon-dioxide-ethanol/) Cheap [natural gas prices](http://time.com/4406405/natural-gas-climate-change-energy/) and increased use of low-cost renewables has ultimately benefited consumers, according to the report. Electricity costs have fallen more than 2% in real terms between 2015 and 2016 and American consumers spent less than 4% of their household spending on energy for the first time ever. Climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions declined to their lowest level in a quarter century even as the economy continued to grow, according to the report. The finding is the latest evidence answering the question policymakers long-debated about whether economic growth can be decoupled from carbon dioxide emissions. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/"},"headline":"Renewable Energy Continues to Beat Fossil Fuels","datePublished":"2017-02-08T15:56:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:10:26.986Z","description":"According to a new report","url":"https://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/","keywords":["energy","climate change","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c52df831e94d879/6988b931fb4eacdfd7890aeb/solar-power-renewable-energy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c52df831e94d879/6988b931fb4eacdfd7890aeb/solar-power-renewable-energy.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"solar power renewable energy","caption":"solar power renewable energy","creditText":"Andreas Rentz—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/energy/","name":"energy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4662116/renewable-energy-fossil-fuels-growth/","name":"Renewable Energy Continues to Beat Fossil Fuels"}}]}] ```