Can A City Run On 100% Renewable Energy?

In 2014 Burlington, Vermont became the first city in the United States to run on 100% Renewable Energy. But how do they actually do it? What’s their secret?

Thanks to Miguel Franco for helping to make this episode possible
https://www.youtube.com/user/marioofsevenstars

Special Thanks To:
Neile Lunderville, Miro Weinberger, Mike Kanarick, Dave MacDonnell, Jon Clark and the Burlington Electric Department

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What Countries Are The Most Energy Efficient https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytkt2YxGou4
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While many countries struggle to transition to renewable energy, some have made the leap. So which countries use only renewable energy?

Learn More:
Vox: Costa Rica Has Gone 76 Straight Days Using 100% Renewable Electricity
http://www.vox.com/2016/9/8/12847160/costa-rica-renewable-electricity

The Guardian: Iceland’s Energy Answer Comes Naturally
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/apr/22/renewableenergy.alternativeenergy

Stanford News: The World Can Be Powered By Alternative Energy, Using Today’s Technology, In 20-40 Years Says Stanford Researcher Mark Z. Jacobson
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/january/jacobson-world-energy-012611.html

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Written by: Jules Suzdaltsev
Edited by: Alex Estevez
Produced by: Cailyn Bradley, Semany Gashaw & Lauren Ellis

40 thoughts on “Can A City Run On 100% Renewable Energy?”

  1. See my complete house energy solution by checking my last youtube video or my kickstarter.
    My solution is based on PV panels plus thermal storage plus lithium storage for a net zero energy house solution cost competitive with natural gas and grid electricity.

    Reply
  2. No matter of other peoples comments this video is very inspirational. Renewable energy isn't 100% perfect but its inspiring to see people like this working to make it work. Just like humans eventually learnt to harness the energy of combustion in a purposeful way, we will eventually learn to harness the energy of other sources in a purposeful way that works for both humans and the planet! Problems take time to solve but they eventually get solved.

    Reply
  3. So, 100% renewable but the majority (76%) of it is from well known and proven, reliable yet environment-damaging solutions (hydro & biomass).
    Quite a misleading title, though, when most people immediately think of solar and wind when they hear "renewable energy".

    Reply
  4. Title is misleading at best. How is burning wood chips renewable? And it certainly isn't clean. Combustion of organics releases a ton of CO2. Aside from nuclear energy, no other form of energy production will come remotely close to burning fossil fuels. Not to mention, it is the most affordable. Green energy is a luxury only the rich countries can afford.

    Reply
  5. of course a city can run on 100% renwable energy, it doesn't care what the source is. Really the title to this video shows a complete lack of understanding of how grid electrical systems work.
    The simple fact is that the evidence from world wide use of wind and solar is that it is extremely poor at providing power when and as we need it. Biomass is considered a renewable but is capable of providing power as and when required, it just is not as good as coal or oil/gas as it's energy density is quite a bit lower. Where it falls down is if we chop down forests rather than using waste wood, forest can be replanted but far too slowly as a source of biomass fuel.

    Reply
  6. burning wood chips……..that does not sound very green thinking to me and biomass is not a renewable resource globally. The intentions here seem good but not yet at 100% renewable energy, but certainly better than a lot of other cities.

    Reply
  7. The wood chips are harvested using fossil fuels and then they are transported using fossil fuels. All the machinery including trucks, trains, conveyors and everything else involved are made using fossil fuels. It is nice to think that Burlington 'runs' on renewable energy. But it isn't really true.

    Reply
  8. As a person who's more alt right, I am very much pro-environment, so this is very much relevant to me. That being said, however, you cannot impose strict rules and regulations on the energy sector if you want innovators and entrepreneurs to really experiment with new and exciting technologies and methods.

    Reply
  9. The secret to running 100% renewable generation, is lying! This city is tied into the New England grid, to take fossil fuel power when they need it on calm, cloudy days. The whole feelgood scam would collapse without the grid. Logging, wood-chipping, and transporting the biomass, is just trading one fossil fuel for another, but I suppose the green dream of using less coal does make ignorant people warm inside.

    Reply
  10. Notice how none of these use solar and wind to do the heavy lifting? The only clean heavy lifters are hydro and nuclear. Also Quebec isn't on that list, they sure want to be their own country :)

    Reply
  11. So basically, a country needs to have very low energy construction and live next to a suitable river to build a dam. That's how we all get renewable energy.

    Reply
  12. Note the common renewable resource themes – Hydro and Geothermal, not wind, not solar.  Large countries like the USA should invest more in geothermal, nuclear, and pump storage.  USA has probably maxed out on Hydro.  We could use wind power to operate pump storage so that the grid gets constant reliable power.  However, nuclear like LFTR would have to be the primary source of electrical power.

    Reply
  13. Am I missing something? Why should it be harder for a larger population to switch to renewable than for a small population? Doesn't it cost the same money per capita per unit of power, no matter the size of the population? I would even expect it to be cheaper for a large population than a small one, because of access to large "bulk" orders.

    Where I'm from, there are 49,000 people, and they just installed 13 wind turbines for a total capacity of 11.7 MW for about $13 million. That's $265 for each person living there. With more people the access to money and capacity would scale up around 1 to 1?

    I know it depends on the landscape, climate and whatever, but I'm talking in general terms.

    Reply
  14. why is this comment section full of people wondering why the comment section is full of Pakistans and Indians hating on eachother?

    Reply
  15. Title should be: "Which Countries Run On 100% Renewable Electricity" The electricity share of the worlds total energy consumption is only about 18%.

    Reply
  16. 2 to 4 decades fuck that thats way to slow! how about 10 years!? or leass fuck 2 to 4 decades thats bullshit. Not as easly achieable 4 other countries my asshole thats a cop out and uknow it u foool!

    Reply

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