The line chart illustrates the proportion of renewable energy accounting for total energy consumption in six European countries over a 40-year period from 1971 to 2011.
Overall, most countries experienced an upward trend in the proportion of renewable energy, with Finland recording the highest figure at the end of the period. Of particular note, the UK lagged significantly behind the others in all the years.
Focusing on the larger figures first, Finland and Denmark stood at around 24% and 15% in 1971. However, these figues saw a dramatic decline between 1986 and 1988, after which these countries experienced a gradual rise to reach around 23% and 18% at the end. The United States and France, meanwhile, started out at lower points of roughly 2% and 7% respectively. Both figures rose considerably over the following years, reaching around 18% and 14% in 2011. After this, France remained relatively stable, while the figure for the United States showed little change until 2006, after which it rose steadily to a peak of around 18% in 2011.
Turning to the remaining countries, the United Kingdom stood at around 1% in 1971, before gradually rising to approximately 6% by 2011. Germany, meanwhile, started at around 5% before it rose sharply to approximately 13% by 2011.