… but fossil fuels are progressing even faster. This is in a nutshell the message from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA, the OECD energy office) latest report, the Clean Energy Progress Report. As GreenTechMedia noted :
” Renewable energy generation has grown, on average, by 2.7 percent a year since 1990. Electricity generation, however, has grown by 3 percent, meaning that the steps forward have been eclipsed by the overall market.”
Indeed, coal, despite being dozens of times dirtier than renewables, has fulfilled 47 percent of the new electricity demand in the past decade.
Here is the first key finding of the IEA :
Clean energy technologies are making clear progress globally, but fossil fuels continue to outpace them. More aggressive clean energy policies are required, including the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and implementation of transparent, predictable and adaptive incentives for cleaner, more efficient energy options.
Thus the agency is recommending the massive implementation of carbon capture and storage. This isn’t new at all… However, we have seen previously that CCS won’t solve the climate change problem.
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Here is another key finding :
Progress has been made to transform the market for some key energy-efficient products, including compact fluorescent light bulbs. However, in the buildings and industry sectors, significant under-investment remains, resulting from an array of market financial,information, institutional and technical barriers.
Much more policy effort is needed to capture the near-term profitable and low cost energy savings opportunities.
Likewise, this isn’t new at all as we have seen that factor five improvements can take place in all economic sectors.
For more, please check out the 71-page report.