These are great news, just in time for the current climate talks taking place in Durban as to a new report from Bloomberg, global investments in renewables are surpassing for the first time ever the amounts invested in fossil fuels.
With economies of scale and scope, both solar energy and wind power are getting cheaper and cheaper, making them already seriously compete with much dirtier energy sources.
As a result, last year over $187 billion (141 billion euros) were invested in renewables and only $157 billion (118 billion euros) in fossil fuels. This is only the beginning.
Indeed, solutions exist to make the transition to a clean energy economy even faster :
- Putting a price on carbon as it has been done quite successfully in the European Union would drive companies to slash their emissions. Australia is due to go in this direction next year as well ;
— - Putting a price on the negative externalities would also be a great way to drive people away from polluting energy sources. Indeed, besides greenhouse gases pollutions, many others are not included in today’s prices such as water and soil pollution ;
— - Removing the subsidies on the dirty industries and giving them to low-carbon energy sources instead would be a great move. To date, much more money is given to fossil fuels than to renewable energies. It is beyond time that we reverse this irresponsible trend.
ah, and a merry season to all…finally commonsense and moral choices are finding their space in commercial energy planning..
the future is finally catching up with the past mistakes–well, not really mistakes, just mis-appropriations and misguided reasoning.
this is worth soaking up at a time when hope wears thin among the unemployed or the under-employed masses. imagine the micro-technologies at the public level, the possibilities to improve food production and communication, education and shelter production..no limits…
Great ideas and new, improved technology is coming to the renewable energy field at a fast pace. Even with the setbacks, alternative energy will soon overtake oil.