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For the First Time In 3 Years, Investments In Renewable Energy Increased
Lucas123 writes: Driven largely by oil price weakness, 2015 could be the best year to date for investments in renewable energy technology, according to several new reports. According to Bloomberg Energy Finance, new funding for wind, solar, biofuels and other low-carbon energy technologies grew 16% to $310 billion last year. It was the first growth since 2011 (PDF), erasing the impact of lower solar-panel prices and falling subsides in the U.S. and Europe that hurt the industry in previous years. Demand for solar power grew 16% year-over-year in 2014, representing 44 gigawatts of capacity purchased during the year. Worldwide solar demand in 2015 is projected to be 51.4GW, compared with 39GW in 2014. Government policies will continue to improve for renewables — solar, in particular — given that anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese modules by the U.S. last year are expected to be removed this year, Deutsche Bank said.
I don't get it, wouldn't lower oil prices reduce demand for renewable energy, thus reducing investment?
Nobody thought oil would ever reach $45.00/barrel ever again in human history.
Solar and other renewables were just starting to become profitable. The Saudis shut that shit down with the swiftness by selling oil at $45.00/barrel vs. $120+, almost overnight.
Renewables or anything else really can't compete with that, and never will until the wells run dry.
Allah akbar.
Please add 'in the US' to the title. Here in Europe investments in clean energy increase yearly in some countries.
-- Cheers!
Oil and gas is where it's at! And that's a fact, Frack!
Keystone! Keystone! Keystone!
Seriously, we are making a big mistake in subsidizing it at this point. It is still expensive enough that this can be used to help. In america, over 20% of energy is used on buildings HVAC and lights. In residential, HVAC is around 50% of its usage.
so the smart thing is drop the subsidies, but require that all new buildings below 6 stories to have enough on-site AE to at least equal the buildings HVAC energy usage.
With this approach, builders can choose where to focus at: better insulation, better HVAC, or loads of AE to make up the difference. This will not just bring down the price of AE, but also bring better down price of better insulation as well as geothermal HVAC.
In addition, we should require that all utilities must buy back excess electricity . they need to buy it back at whatever rate they currently pay other wholesalers at that time.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
If Saudi were to stop exporting, international oil would rise over 100 quickly. However, within several years, prices would drop again.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Flow batteries are just coming on-line. Look up eos energy.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Not if the Jap's keep on slaughtering millions of innocent whales per year.
just flap and shit
Apart from the physical constraints of course of being able to find an easy supply, and that is getting harder and more expensive all of the time. Do you deny that? Without a shift to other sources (which is already happening with shale and coal gas etc), and as such a diminishing demand, there will be a point where new oil sources do not become available as quickly as they are demanded. We can't just hope that there is deep oil, we have to find it and that is quite difficult the deeper it is, and we don't have a clue how much oil there is or isn't in the arctic either.
We've found all the easy stuff. It gets more difficult from now on. Getting oil from a 12km deep well was something that required a vast amount of effort over decades since the initial survey - done way back before the USSR fell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakhalin-I)
The increase in adaptation of the renewable energy, especially solar panel, perhaps can be credited with Jackie Chan
See this /. thread -- http://hardware.slashdot.org/s...
"By imprinting Jackie Chan's BR disc pit pattern on the solar panel medium, some scientists manage to add a whopping 22% conversion rate to achieve a quantum efficiency of around 40%"
To find out if the Jackie Chan factor does take hold we may need to trace how well his BR discs are selling
Be the best year for investments in renewable energy. The decline in fossil fuels across the board will kill the incentive to find renewable energy. The U.S. manipulation of the oil market in order to cripple Russia will have profound effects, but the reality is that oil and combustion technology will continue to lead the way for the next decade. And remember, even with manipulation, The Market is not Random.
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artlu.net
One of the most intriguing things I find about oil is that it is such a useful compound and the best we can do with it is burn it!
Oil prices can only go up in the long term and the pretending that goes on with our politicians in relation to these industries really reveal the cracks and flaws in our democratic processes that stop structural issues like renewable energy deployment being addressed.
Hopefully, as it becomes obvious that the science on these matters is actually correct, the problem solvers will have more influence over the politics. I keep hearing that it will take a long time, however I think it was about 2006 when people started talking about it and here is solar and wind making great impacts on the energy markets already. Perhaps the day will come much sooner and oil prices will become less relevant.
Surely human beings can adapt to this.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
The basic reaction that such hydrocarbons can be created exists.
But it cannot lead to the conclusion that because of this oil would be renewable.
Gas filled windows still transmit plenty of heat. OTOH, aerogel is the world's best insulator next to a pure vacuum. But, the market needs to be built up.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Energy is neither renewable nor sustainable:
http://www.shapingtomorrowsworld.org/energy_is_neither.html
Watch them all go belly up and out of business if oil remains this low for more than 3 months.
The US solar investment tax credit runs out at the end of 2016. So firms with commitments to put up solar plants are scrambling to get the projects finished. That's going to drive a frantic rush to put equipment in service before 1/1/17.
> Which is a function of cost and profit.
No it isn't.
Doesn't matter how much you spend (it has FUCK ALL to do with profit: you HAVE to spend the cost to extract, even if it's profitless, therefore not done at all), you cannot extract oil faster than the extraction process allows.
Shale oil needs to be cleared, and that takes time. No matter the cost, it can't happen any quicker.