In yesterday’s market size post we looked at nonhydropower renewable sources of electricity. These renewables are usually broken into four categories: wind, geothermal, solar and other. So, what does this “other” include? This category covers a wide range of methods for generating electricity and what follows is only a partial list of them: waste incineration, wood burning, connecting exercise bicycles in gyms to capture the kinetic energy they generate during spinning classes, and the harnessing of elephants and/or oxen to a grinding wheel used to turn a series of interlocking turbines. While each of these methods represent a small fraction of all electric production, together they accounted for 6.8% of renewable electricity generation in 2007.

For a thorough discussion of these many methods of generating electricity, and statistics for their prevelance in the United States, the LaMarotte blog has a wonderful post on the topic, available here.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2007
Market size: 235 billion kilowatt hours
Source: “Table 12. OECD and Non-OECD Net Renewable Electricity Generation by Energy Source, 2007-2035,” International Energy Outlook 2010, report available online here.
Original source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Happy April Fools Day!