The penetration of renewable energy into the energy system of human settlements on Earth is from one point of view nearly 100%. The energy system seen by the inhabitants of the Earth is dominated by the environmental heat associated with the greenhouse effect, which captures solar energy and stores it within a surface-near sheet of topsoil and atmosphere around the Earth. Only 0.02% of this energy system is currently managed by human society, as illustrated in Figure 1.1. Within this economically managed part of the energy sector, renewable energy sources currently provide about 25% of the energy supplied. As the Figure indicates, a large part of this renewable energy is in the form of biomass energy, either in food crops or in managed forestry providing wood for industrial purposes or for incineration (firewood used for heat and cooking in poor countries, or for mood-setting fireplaces in affluent countries, residue and waste burning in combined power and heat plants or incinerators). The additionally exploited sources of renewable energy include hydro, wind and solar. Hydropower is a substantial source, but its use no longer growing due to environmental limits identified in many locations with potential hydro resources.
