6 Million People in China Received All of Their Energy From Renewables for a Whole Week

A Committed China

2017 is turning out to be a very productive year for China. Over the past couple of weeks, the east Asian giant has taken significant action to combat air pollution and limit its carbon footprint. The efforts, which include investing in renewable technology to combat the effects of its fossil fuel-based power plants, are part of China's ambitious goals to meet its Paris Climate Agreement commitments.

Now, in a historic demonstration, one of China's northwestern provinces just ran on only renewable energy for seven consecutive days. The trial took place in Qinghai, the country's fourth biggest region with a population of roughly 6 million people, and as of May 2017, about 82.8 percent of the province's 23.4 million-kilowatt capacity was already being generated by wind, solar, and hydro power sources.

According to China's official news agency, Xinhua, the province received 1.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity — roughly equal to burning 535,000 tons of coal — from renewable energy sources from June 17 to 23. Of these, 72 percent came from hydro plants, while the rest was divided between solar and wind.

Renewable Revolution

The reason behind the week-long demonstration is simple: China wanted to show that it's possible to power a province using just clean, renewable energy sources.

"Clean energy is the ultimate way. We need to reduce reliance on fossil fuel, improve our energy structure, and reduce carbon emissions," Han Ti, vice general manager of Qinghai's grid company, told Xinhua.

China isn't the first nation to prove it's possible to run entirely on renewables. Clean energy is setting energy generation records all over the world, including in the United States and in the United Kingdom.

Aside from the obvious environmental benefits, renewables are also economically sound, even more so than fossil fuels. China plans to invest 2.5 trillion yuan (roughly $370 billion) into renewable energy, which would generate more than 13 million jobs according to the National Energy Administration. Meanwhile, the solar industry in the U.S. is creating jobs at 17 times the rate of the rest of the economy.

Truly, clean energy does appear to be the best path forward for both our planet and our society.