Renewable Energy Passes the $2 Trillion Mark in the Last Decade
We all find it hard to admit mistakes at times, and some of us (myself included) are often shy about pointing out that they were right as rain all along. Having said that, I’ll momentarily set aside that inhibition and say that it appears I’m correct about the rapid migration to renewable energy.
I titled my fourth book “Bullish on Renewable Energy,” after subtitling my third book “Following the Money,” and what I meant was simply this: you can either:
Get all freaked out about the climate change deniers, the oil companies’ virtual ownership of the U.S. Congress, the Republicans taking control of the Senate, the failures of the IPCC to bring about international consensus on emissions reductions, the Koch brothers, etc.
or
Realize that investors are pouring literally trillions of dollars into renewable energy, an arena that is now busting wide open in terms of job growth and economic expansion. At the same time, the R&D and scale in the industry push prices lower every day. All the while, the world is waking up to the environmental issues associated with fossil fuels.
From RenewableEnergyWorld:
The $270 billion spent in 2014 on renewable technologies such as wind and solar reversed a two-year dip in investments and brought in a record 103 gigawatts of clean-energy power generation, according to a report released Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program, the Frankfurt School and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
“In 2014, renewables made up nearly half of the net power capacity added worldwide,” Achim Steiner, UNEP’s executive director, said in a statement. “These climate-friendly energy technologies are now an indispensable component of the global energy mix. Their importance will only increase as markets mature, technology prices continue to fall and the need to rein in carbon emissions becomes ever more urgent.”
Right on.
