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A new report by Bloomberg finds that renewable energy investment may increase by 23% worldwide this year and could hit $200 billion.
Renewable energy investment was $162 billion last year, but Bloomberg predicts that it will be somewhere between $175 and $200 billion this year.
But the real questions are, what will happen in the years to come and who will be the world leaders in this field?
“There’s a big bulge of stimulus money coming through this year,” Bloomberg New Energy Finance Chief Executive Officer Michael Liebreich said during a press conference at the consultant’s annual conference in London last week. “The question is what happens when they switch off the stimulus.”
US, China, Europe, and others have $184 billion set aside for clean energy projects, most of which (two thirds of it) is to be spent by the end of 2011.
Clearly, China is in the lead on this topic. Last year, China invested $34.5 billion in clean energy, whereas the US invested $18.6 billion (the second most worldwide). In doing so, it “replaced the U.S. as the biggest investor in renewable energy for the first time in at least five years.”
China is not looking to hit cruise control anytime soon either — a new multi-billion dollar renewable energy program is set for launch soon.
Meanwhile, Republican Congressmen (and Congresswomen) in the US are fighting every attempt to bring clean energy and climate friendly investment to the US.
And China is reportedly doing its part to stay in #1 by trying to squeeze the US out of its renewable energy market.
With the pace of change in the world today, it is hard to know what renewable energy investment will be in a few years, but it looks like you could put your money on China being in the lead. We will see.
Image Credit: lupinehorror via flickr under a CC license
Why are yanks so obsessed with ‘World Leadership”? Ever heard of Globalization?
Wanting the US to be the ‘World Leader’ is about as PC as saying you want your state to dominate an industry. Nationalism is about as relevant as racism these days.
If the Chinese get their act together in wind turbine manufacture, for example, as they already have, then it benefits everyone as increased production volume lowers the unit price.
Paul, i agree with your point, in theory.
However, I think the reason why the competition aspect of this is important is that it is exactly what is driving at least some people and societies to act. We do still live in a largely capitalistic global society, and without economic competition, many countries would do less to move this industry forward.
There is nothing wrong in cheering for your team or your country in the Olympics, so for those who are more interested in sports (or clean energy economics) when there is someone to cheer for, this is an important matter. This is what gets them into the game.
In an idealistic world, we would all just work together to tackle the problems of the world out of pure altruism. But this is not such a world.
I have to say, these numbers are far lower than I expected. 200 billion is a lot of money but this is a potential multi-trillion dollar industry. Regardless of whether or not you believe in global warming, fossil fuels are a finite resource and a paradigm shift in energy production is not optional for humanity, it is compulsory. I would have thought the smart money would have been thrown into the ring already.
Different techniques motivate different people.
For Americans, fear and pride are two of the best motivators to get them to do things. The writer of this article is trying to replicate the effect that happened when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
Americans were afraid of the Nuclear threat the launch implied plus their pride was hurt because they didn’t get into space first.
The fear of China becoming the dominate economic power plus the slap that America is not dominating technical innovation is a similar, though not equal, situation.
and the truth is, Doug, those things are happening. China is becoming the dominant power very fast
Do I have to be the one to point out…. we’re all on the same planet!
Wind Power Investment Blowing Towards Chile
The combination of pro-renewable energy legislation, economic stability and industrial demand are fuelling a vibrant wind power sector in Chile.
for free access to full article, visit: http://www.alternativelatininvestor.com/6/renewable-energy.html