Worries of a changing climate, hiking oil prices and governmental policies have triggered an environment for investments in renewable energy. A global trend of up-scale investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy seems to have brought the renewable revolution right to our doorstep.

UN report claims that clean energy could provide almost a quarter of the world’s electricity by 2030. Investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006. The trend report analyzed venture capital, the stock market and acquisitions, studying how investment money on renewable energy is being spent around the world.

While renewable sources today produce about 2% of the world’s energy, they now account for about 18% of world investment in power generation, with wind generation at the investment head. Solar and bio-fuel energy technologies grew even more quickly than wind, but from a smaller base.

Around 40% of the capital invested in solar went towards new technology development. In biofuels, the proportion was about 20%, reflecting a surging corn-based ethanol industry in the U.S., as well as research into second-generation biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol. But, can corn-based fuels of this kind be really considered sustainable, however, that’s a different question.

Major companies in Europe have attracted immense stock market investment dollars recently - $5.7 billion compared to $3.5 billion in the U.S. The pattern reflects the earlier arrival of enthusiasm for renewable energy in Europe and its ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, unlike the US and Australia.

Renewable energy in developing countries

Even developing countries seem to be turning towards renewable energy! A healthy 9% of global investment occurred in China, there was a lot of asset financing activity in wind and biomass as well as the waste sectors. India lagged a little behind China but was the largest buyer of companies abroad in 2006, most of them in the more established European markets. Latin America took 5% of the global investment, most of which financed Brazilian bio-ethanol plants and Sub-Saharan Africa lags, but there is nonetheless interest there.

If sustainable energy technology becomes the fundamental component of the global fossil fuel-dominated energy system, it will be a breath of fresh air for the changing climate. In fact, to keep dangerous climate at bay we should have already switched to renewable energy resources by now.

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