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.

Comments

Re:Huh?

[Mashiki]

If that was true, then in places like Canada, we wouldn't be paying $0.60kWh for solar energy, when nuclear is $0.05kWh, and natural gas is $0.07-0.09kWh. Don't even get me started on wind with it being as high $0.83kWh. Then again, you guys in the states seem to throw a hissy fit every time we want to sell you oil, or even build pipelines to ship it to you. Energy independence? Only if it fits an environmentalist agenda for some people.