Economic woes fail to dampen investments in renewable energy, fuels | WPN World People News

Global investment in renewable energy and fuels rose 17 per cent last year to reach a record $257 billion despite the economic woes besetting major economies, according to the latest United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report released Monday.

The report 'Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2012', based on data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, reveals that though the investment growth in 2011 compared poorly with the 37 per cent growth in 2010, it was nonetheless an impressive 94 per cent more than in 2007, a year before the global financial crisis.

Overall, renewable energy sources currently constitute 16.7 per cent of global energy consumption.

In terms of national investments in renewable, the US witnessed a surge to record a 57 per cent jump to $51 billion, just $1 billion short of China, the largest investor.

While China saw its investments in renewables rise just 17 per cent, India recorded a massive 62 per cent jump in investment to reach $12 billion.

By region, the EU was home to nearly 37 per cent of global non-hydro renewable capacity at the end of 2011, China, India and Brazil accounted for roughly one quarter.

In 2011, renewable energy technologies continued to expand into new markets: around 50 countries installed wind power capacity, and solar PV capacity moved rapidly into new regions and countries.

Solar hot water collectors are used by more than 200 million households as well as in many public and commercial buildings worldwide.

The report indicates that solar power is surging ahead of wind power in generation capacity, attracting nearly twice as much investment to reach $147 billion.

The increase was driven mainly by booming rooftop solar photovoltaic installations in Germany and Italy, as well as the UK and China. Large-scale concentration of solar power projects also attracted significant investment in Spain and the US.

The boom in solar investment has been driven mainly by tumbling prices of photovoltaic modules, which has dipped from $1.50 per watt in 2010 to just $0.60 per watt by the end of 2011.

Coming ahead of the Rio20 Summit later this month, the UNEP report stresses that even as investments in renewable is growing so to are investments in fossil fuel capacity, which were significantly larger at $302 billion.

In a tacit reference to the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China over solar panels, as well as between Europe and elsewhere over inclusion of aviation in its carbon trading system, Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP said, "It is essential to continue government policies that support and nurture the sector's growth, and to de-escalate damaging trade disputes."

Steiner warned that trade disputes could weaken the low-carbon transition just at the point when exciting cost reductions are starting to transform the economics.

Source: United States News.Net