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Renewable power grows more than fossil fuel in EU and US
photo by Andrew Barclay (electropod on Flickr Creative Commons)
Despite the recent economic downturn, the green energy market has grown to the point of eclipsing fossil fuel – at least in terms of the creation of new power capacity in Europe and the United States.
In 2009 renewables accounted for over 50% of new power capacity in the US and 60% in the Europe. Green power also grew globally.
From an article in Red Herring magazine:
Nearly 80 GW of renewable power capacity was added globally, including 31 GW of hydro and 48 GW of non-hydro capacity. Wind power and solar PV additions totaled a record high of 38 GW and 7 GW, mostly due to a large drop in the costs of solar PV. This decline was offset by high investments in smaller scale solar installments. Wind energy was a strong investment.
This information comes from a report by The United Nations Environment Program and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century.
Though global investment in renewable power sources fell by $11bn from 2008, installation increased. Wind and biomass investment actually increased, while biofuel and solar went down. Overall investment soared in Asia by $10bn, swelling in China by a whopping 53%.
From a CNN report:
According to the U.N., wind power received record investment in 2009 — $67 billion in 2009 compared with $59 billion in 2008 — with a total of 38 GW of new energy installed worldwide.
Wind power is experiencing huge growth in China and the UK’s North Sea.
Graham Land
Tags: capacity, China, energy, global, Green, investment, North Sea, power, renewable, Solar, UK, UN, wind
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