Earth Day at 41, the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe, the ongoing Fukushima tragedy--what better time to assess the status and potential of green energy technology?
The good news, and it's very good indeed, is that renewables spending has "roared back" from the recession, increasing 30 percent in 2010 to a total of $243 billion. Nine tenths of that is in the G-20 advanced industrial countries, according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trust's Environmental Group, done in cooperation with Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
"Collectively, the European region was the leading recipient of clean energy finance, attracting a total of $94.4 billion," says the report, "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race?" Germany, where its far-sighted Feed-in Tariff law of 1999 now is driving installation of rooftop solar arrays, having previously ignited a revolution in wind energy, led the way in Europe. Next comes Asia, led of course by China, which is now the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines.
"The Americas region," by comparison, "is a distant third in the race for clean energy investment, attracting $65.8 billion overall in 2010." The United States slid to the Number Three position, behind China and Germany. What's going on?
Given uncertainties surrounding key policies and incentives," says the report, "the U.S. competitive position in the clean energy sector is at risk. Growth is sharper in Latin America, where private clean energy investment in Argentina increased by 568 percent and in Mexico by 273 percent, the highest growth ratesamong G-20 members."
Globally, the solar sector grew fastest last year, attracting 53 percent more investment than the year before. Wind investment, in second place, grew 34 percent. Whereas China installed 17 GW of new wind last year, the United States managed only 5 GW.
Altogether, clean-energy generating technology has doubled in the last three years and now exceeds total global nuclear capacity. Even bearing in mind that in terms of actual electricity produced, green energy still is only about a third or fourth's of nuclear, the progress in renewables is impressive indeed.
