XPost: alt.christnet.second-coming.real-soon-now, alt.religion.c   
   ristian.last-days   
   From: §pam.ßuster@all.com   
      
   "Gak O'Reilly"  wrote in message news:Xns9F1   
   CD49B349fdas@194.177.98.144...   
   >   
   > Renewable energy tops nuclear power in the US   
   >   
   > By John Timmer | Published 2 days ago   
   >   
   > Plunging prices and booming investments are beginning to reshape the   
   > energy market, according to a couple of reports that were released this   
   > week. A report produced on behalf of Bloomberg says that investments in   
   > renewable energy have gone up by roughly a third over the last year, to   
   > $211 billion. Led by China's renewable push, the world is now on a   
   > trajectory that will see its investments in renewable electricity surpass   
   > those in fossil fuels within a year or two. As a result of these   
   > investments, the US is now producing more renewable energy than nuclear   
   > power.   
   >   
   > First, renewable investments. Bloomberg's New Energy Finance group has   
   > collaborated with the UN Environment Programme and the Frankfurt School of   
   > Finance and Management to produce a global overview of funding for   
   > renewable power. This includes the obvious—financing for the construction   
   > of utility-scale projects and home installations—and some non-obvious   
   > funding, like merger and acquisition activity.   
   >   
   > Any way you look at things, the numbers make it clear just how significant   
   > renewables have become. Excluding hydropower, renewables made up about 35   
   > percent of the power capacity added worldwide last year, and produced over   
   > five percent of the total power. Investments directed toward this new   
   > capacity (excluding things like mergers) hit $187 billion, and are closing   
   > in fast on the spending on fossil fuel power plants, cutting the gap in   
   > spending to $31 billion, down from $74 billion. At that pace, we'll be   
   > investing more in renewables either this year or next.   
   >   
   >    Renewables made up 35 percent of the power capacity added worldwide   
   > last year.   
   >   
   > Part of the reason is cost. Although wind turbines are very mature   
   > technology now, their cost per MW still fell by 18 percent over the last   
   > two years; photovoltaics have dropped a staggering 60 percent in that   
   > time. "Further improvements in the levelised cost of energy for solar,   
   > wind and other technologies lie ahead, posing a bigger and bigger threat   
   > to the dominance of fossil-fuel generation sources in the next few   
   > years," according to the report's authors.   
   >   
   > That will be a major transition, but another one took place already this   
   > past year: more financing went to utility-scale projects in the developing   
   > economies than in the industrialized ones. That change is driven by China,   
   > where investments were up by about 30 percent, reaching $49 billion.   
   >   
   > The US, despite seeing a jump of 60 percent, still trailed far behind,   
   > with only about $25 billion in these investments. That would be enough to   
   > put the US in second place, at least until small-scale distributed solar   
   > is considered. Rooftop and similar capacity boomed in Germany after   
   > several years of government-driven investment in larger projects. Small-   
   > scale solar now constitutes the majority of Germany's investment, and is   
   > sufficient to push it into second place globally. A similar trend was   
   > apparent in other European countries, including Italy, France, and the   
   > Czech Republic. These installations are also enough to push solar energy   
   > much closer to wind power when it comes to total investments.   
   >   
   > Renewables are also becoming a major factor outside of the BrIC countries   
   > (Brazil, India, China). Latin American investments tripled to clear $6   
   > billion, and other Asian nations saw 30 percent growth to $4 billion. But   
   > the big story is Africa, led by Egypt and Kenya, where investments were up   
   > nearly five-fold, reaching $3.6 billion. "Solar telecommunications   
   > towers," the report argues, "are becoming the technology of choice, not a   
   > poor substitute for diesel or other fossil-fuel power options."   
   >   
   > These trends have driven a major milestone in the US. The US Energy   
   > Information Agency performs a monthly review of the national energy   
   > economy, and its most recent report (for June) held a bit of a surprise:   
   > renewable energy has passed nuclear for the first three months this year.   
   > Electricity generated by nuclear plants has held steady at about 8,400   
   > quadrillion BTUs for the last several years, while renewables have   
   > experienced strong growth, reaching just over 8,000 Quads last year.   
   >   
   > This figure includes biomass, which has seen significant growth over the   
   > last decade, as has wind. So far, solar is barely registering, but several   
   > major utility-scale projects are in the works, both photovoltaic and   
   > concentrated solar, so that may change before too long.   
   >   
   > Developed economies still have a substantial lead when it comes to R&D   
   > investments, which are helping to drive the costs of solar (and other   
   > technologies) downwards. Government policies in these nations have also   
   > fostered increased production, which is pushing the costs down even   
   > further. But the rapid growth of renewables outside these economies show   
   > that globalization has ensured that the benefits are spreading rapidly to   
   > other countries, where renewables are enabling off-the-grid operation of   
   > key infrastructure.   
   >   
   >   
   > http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/07/renewable-power-booms-in-   
   > developing-world-as-it-tops-nuclear-in-the-us.ars   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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