The powerfulDanube Riverflows through this Austrian State Department , a swath of country home to 1.65 million people . It flows through 10 countries , lead off in Germany and ending up draining into the Black Sea off the coast of Ukraine . Over its duration of 2,860 kilometers ( 1,777 naut mi ) , it has an average release of 2,000 cubic metre per 2nd ( 70,629 cubic feet per second ): that ’s like make almost an Olympic - sized swimming pool ’s worth of H2O flow by every second .
This river ’s menses is so powerful in fact that two - third of Lower Austria ’s electrical energy already follow from hydroelectric power generated by it . The craggy geography of Austria means that immense amounts of energy can be generated from this high - mental ability river speedily flowing down through a serial of very steep slope . The remainder of the country ’s energy is source from wind , biomass and solar power .
Although this State Department ’s accomplishment is laudable , it should n’t come as a surprisal to Austrians themselves . After all , the country already produces70 pct of its electrical energy using renewable energysources , a high interior vigor share than any other European Union country , beating Sweden , Latvia , Portugal , and Denmark .
In terms of the land ’s total Department of Energy production – not just electrical energy generation – Austria is currently source about a third from renewable beginning . Remarkably , Norway is source almost two - third gear of its full energy in this way , as of 2013 .
The European Union ( EU ) haspreviously declaredtheir design to produce 20 percent of their total Energy Department via renewable energy sources by the death of the decade . The individual butt of each commonwealth have deviate , from Sweden ’s challenging 49 percentage figure to the United Kingdom ’s far less impressive 15 percent . In fact , three EU nations have already made it : Bulgaria , Estonia , and Sweden . Overall , this huge amalgamation of nations is on cartroad to reach its 20 percent destination , get through 15 percent in 2013 .
Each country has its own unequalled forcible characteristics , populations and vim demands , meaning that it will be soft for some nations to meet these targets – particularly less - populate countries with geographic features ( including powerful river ) good-humored to renewable energy production . Nevertheless , Austria ’s accomplishment will be honest news for those attending the United NationsClimate Change Conferencein Paris this month .
[ H / T : Quartz ]
