The use of renewable energy in the Netherlands increased again last year. Currently, 19.8 percent of total energy consumption is renewable. If you only look at electricity consumption, that is even half.
This is according to figures from statistics bureau CBS. The increase is mainly due to new offshore wind turbines and the fact that road traffic has used more biodiesel.
The largest source of renewable energy is still biomass, which accounts for about a third of the total. Wind energy also accounts for almost a third of renewable energy. Other sources are solar energy and heat pumps.
In total, 358 petajoules of renewable energy were consumed in our country last year. That is more than twice as much as five years ago. The increase is mainly due to the fact that many wind turbines have been installed in the Netherlands. Households have also purchased many solar panels and heat pumps.
If you only look at electricity, the sustainable share is even greater. Of the 216 petajoules used last year, just over half came from renewable sources.
The largest increase was in wind energy, whose generation increased by 20 percent last year. Solar energy was also on the rise, while production via biomass decreased.
Aviation lags behind in sustainability
The energy consumption of road traffic was also somewhat more sustainable last year. Of the 355 petajoules of gasoline and diesel consumed, about 10 percent (35 petajoules) was a bio-variant. In particular, the use of biodiesel increased, because fuel suppliers were required to mix it in.
In aviation, sustainability is not progressing so smoothly. For the aircraft fuel kerosene, the bio-share remained limited to 3 percent.