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Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

By on 5 Apr 2016commentsShare

These days, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is downright cheery about the economic prospects of addressing climate change. In a speech to a business-minded room at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance summit on Tuesday, Kerry insisted climate change presents an opportunity that could far surpass the tech boom of the 1990s: “This is a multitrillion-dollar market with billions of users worldwide.”

Acting on climate change isn’t just about preserving the planet for future generations, Kerry explained, but also recognizing “that clean energy is one of the greatest economic opportunities the world has ever seen.” We just need the right policies and governance to lead the way, according to Kerry. “There are opportunities literally everywhere you look.”

Kerry isn’t alone among Democrats who have increasingly framed climate change as a business opportunity. “This is the biggest new business opportunity in the history of the world,” former Vice President Al Gore said earlier this year. Ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley liked to argue the same on the campaign trail during his brief run for president.

The positive messaging has less to do with the morals of climate change than it does with cold-hard cash to be made in transition to clean energy. But if it works to convince a few businesses to take the leap, then that’ll be progress.

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Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Climate change is a multitrillion-dollar business opportunity, according to John Kerry

9 figures to help you understand the state of renewable energy

9 figures to help you understand the state of renewable energy

By on 24 Mar 2016 10:59 amcommentsShare

Today, you’ll see some headlines touting last year’s record investment in renewables. A new report from the Frankfurt School–UNEP Centre and Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows investment in clean energy grew to $286 billion globally in 2015 — a new world record! — up 5 percent from the previous year. Here’s what the global trend in renewable investment looks like since 2004:

Global new investment in renewable energy by asset class, 2004–2015, $bn

UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

As a whole, investment in renewable capacity was more than twice that invested in coal- and gas-fired projects last year, and new clean generating capacity added was greater than all other kinds of new generating capacity combined. Note that coal and gas only make up about a third of the pie chart below:

New power generating capacity added in 2015 by main technology, gigawatts

Bloomberg New Energy Finance

But it would kind of be bonkers if that weren’t the case.

Investment in new renewable generating capacity has had a rocky history, but it has more or less been rising everywhere except Europe for the past decade. (Europe has notably seen a decline in investment since about 2011.)

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Still, total global renewable capacity — not just newly added renewable capacity — continues to make up just a small fraction of the energy mix. Total clean energy capacity grew to 16.2 percent of the global mix in 2015, an increase from 15.2 percent in 2014. Actual electricity generated by renewable sources (excluding large hydroelectric projects) grew to 10.3 percent. It’s encouraging growth, to be sure, but perhaps not the sunny picture painted by the phrase “new world record.”

Zooming the lens in a bit reveals a more interesting story. “There are so many numbers, it’s difficult to wrap them up in a few remarks,” cautioned Angus McCrone, lead author and chief editor on the report, on a press call. Indeed, there’s a lot going on in the UNEP report, but one of the things it does well is shine a shaft of light between the big numbers. Who, exactly, is spending all this money, and what kind of money are they spending? China — whose just-released Five-Year Plan has been heralded as its greenest ever — is pouring money into new renewable projects. But what kind of projects are we actually talking about?

China was No. 1 in renewable investment in 2015, responsible for 36 percent of the world’s total. Europe came in second; even its continued slide in investment left it with $4 billion more pumped into the renewable sector than the United States. Here’s the regional breakdown, in billions of dollars, of spending on renewables in 2015:

Global new investment in renewable energy by region, 2015, $bn

UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

That’s not the whole story, though. While China experienced 81 percent growth last year in new small distributed capacity (solar projects with a capacity of less than 1 megawatt), Japan still smashed the rest of the world in that sector. In the bar graph below, note that even with declining investment in small distributed capacity, the U.S. still finished in second:

Small distributed capacity investment by country, 2015, and growth on 2014, $bn

UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

China commissioned around 29 gigawatts of onshore wind capacity in 2015 and installed close to 16 GW of solar PV projects. The country’s investments are largely dominated by company borrowing for and spending on renewable projects: what UNEP calls asset finance. Asset finance mostly consists of what’s on company balance sheets, as well as loans and equity financing. Europe, too, invested more than the U.S. in terms of asset finance last year. Here’s the breakdown of how countries invested their renewable dollars in 2015:

New investment in renewable energy by country and asset class, 2015, and growth on 2014, $bn

UNEP, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

So the UNEP report helps clarify the role China plays in the renewable sector: It’s mostly deploying utility-scale projects, and they’re mostly projects that are ready for asset finance. Globally speaking, though, here’s what asset finance for renewables looks like over time and space:

Asset finance investment in renewable energy by region, 2004–2015, $bn

Bloomberg New Energy Finance, UNEP

But asset finance comes relatively late in a renewable project’s life cycle; that is, at the point of roll-out. Earlier in the cycle, though, the funding landscape looks a little different. Funding from public markets, for example, might begin to trickle in at the point when a given company scales up manufacturing. The United States, which leads the world in terms of investment in publicly listed renewable companies, saw a 41 percent increase in this kind of funding in 2015, compared to the previous year. Note China’s 45 percent dip in this area in the following chart:

Public markets investment in renewable energy by company nationality, 2015, and growth on 2014, $bn

Bloomberg New Energy Finance

In terms of venture capital and private equity — the kind of investment that comes at an earlier stage in a company’s cycle — the United States also boasted the heaviest spend. Here’s the global distribution of venture capital spending since 2004, broken down by region:

Venture capital/private equity investment in renewable energy by region, 2004–2015, $bn

Bloomberg New Energy Finance, UNEP

And the U.S. was responsible for more value in terms of mergers and acquisitions (including refinancings, takeovers, and buy-outs) in the renewables space than any other country last year. As the following chart shows, while China has seen modest growth in acquisitions over the past couple years, the country still makes up only a small chunk of total spending in this space:

Asset acquisitions and refinancings by region, 2004–2015, $bn

Bloomberg New Energy Finance

None of this is particularly surprising, but it is illuminating — and in many cases, sobering. Don’t forget that China brought more than 40 GW of coal and gas power online last year, too. Investment in the renewable sector continues to grow, but if countries are serious about the commitments they made at the Paris Climate Conference, they’ll have to wean themselves off fossil fuels a lot faster. “When you’re on a diet, it’s not enough to account for the salads you’re eating,” said Ulf Moslener, lead editor on the report, on a press call. “You also have to account for the ice cream.”

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9 figures to help you understand the state of renewable energy

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Watching coal plants crumble to a Tchaikovsky score is insanely satisfying

Watching coal plants crumble to a Tchaikovsky score is insanely satisfying

By on 23 Feb 2016commentsShare

Hearing the news that a coal plant, a facility that once belched CO2, mercury, sulphur, nitrogen oxides, and other hazardous chemicals into the air, is shutting down is certainly a cause to celebrate. Seeing it explode in glorious high definition and set to lively classical music is another thing altogether.

Duke Energy, the largest electric power holding company in the U.S., released a video this week showing the death of four of its old coal power plants, giving environmentalists an awesome soundtrack to the death of the coal industry.

The video shows the demolition of Weatherspoon, H.F. Lee, Cape Fear, and Cliffside, all facilities in North Carolina. The demolitions, set to a rousing rendition of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, are nothing short of transfixing.

A spokesperson for Duke Energy told Grist that the plants were mainly operated from the 1930s to the ’60s, and were destroyed as a way to celebrate “modernizing the way we generate power for the past decade.” But as the company transitioned away from coal, it looked to natural gas as its main money-maker and maintained its spot atop the country’s worst carbon emitters in 2015.

Thanks in large part to cheap natural gas, many of America’s coal plants have been reduced to rubble — or are about to be. As of last November, over 200 coal-fired stations had been retired or were scheduled for retirement. According to an analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance last year, about 17 percent of U.S. coal-fired power generation is expected to disappear over the next few years. It’s been said that the coal industry is “in terminal decline,” and there’s no better way to visualize that than the crumbling of an enormous, dirty power plant.

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In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

Shutterstock

It’s all good.

Solar power installations are expected to edge out new wind farms this year for the title of fastest-growing clean energy source.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance has projected that photovoltaic plants like this monster that we reported on last week will add 36.7 gigawatts of capacity this year — up 20 percent from last year. New wind farms, meanwhile, will add 35.5 gigawatts. That’s an awesome figure, too, but it’s nearly a quarter less for wind than in 2012. From Bloomberg:

Lower panel costs and government support are accelerating deployment of solar energy even as growth slows in the mature European markets. Wind installations, more than double solar before 2011, are also being slowed by Europe, as well as a lack of clarity on policy in the U.S. and China.

Wind power installations will drop by almost a quarter this year to their lowest level since 2008 because of the policies in these two countries, according to Justin Wu, [Bloomberg New Energy Finance]’s head of wind analysis. China and the U.S. combined represented about 60 percent of the global wind market last year.

What are these policies of which they speak? The biggies are known as renewable energy “production tax credits,” and they expire at the end of every year unless Congress takes action to, well, renew them. That hasn’t happened so far this year, and with Republicans in Congress about to force a government shutdown, it doesn’t look likely. Here’s Bloomberg again:

Neither of the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate have yet to mark up a legislative package to extend the provisions, with time running short before they expire Dec. 31, energy analyst Kevin Book said.

“It’s pretty telling” that “there is still no draft, no amendment has come up for a vote” on the extension, said Book, the managing director of research for ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based consulting firm.

“A better than average probability” exists that the expiring tax credits will be allowed to lapse, Book said, though he predicted they would be retroactively reinstated at some point in 2014.

That’s exactly what happened this year, after Congress let the tax credit lapse at the end of 2012 only to renew it in January — and wind energy has attracted significant private funding lately. Still, for the time being, wind power is blowing in the political breezes. Solar, on the other hand, is having its day in the sun.


Source
Annual Solar Installs to Beat Wind for First Time, Bloomberg
Credits to Spur Renewable Energy Sources Seen Set to End, Bloomberg

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

Posted in ALPHA, Anchor, ATTRA, Brita, FF, G & F, GE, ONA, PUR, solar, solar panels, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on In the renewable energy race, solar power is hot hot hot

Solar power set to shine in 2013

Solar power set to shine in 2013

John UptonSolar panels in San Francisco.

This year is shaping up to be a bright one for solar power.

New solar generating capacity expected to be installed around the world in 2013 will be capable of producing almost as much electricity as eight nuclear reactors, according to Bloomberg, which interviewed seven analysts and averaged their forecasts.

That would be a rise of 14 percent over last year for a total of 34.1 gigawatts of new solar capacity, thanks in large part to rising demand in China, the U.S., and Japan. From Bloomberg:

Prices for silicon-based solar panels sank about 20 percent to 79 cents a watt in the past 12 months, after dropping by half in the previous year.

China, the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, is forecast to unseat Germany as the largest solar market in 2013, according to analysts at [Bloomberg New Energy Finance]. Projects have multiplied as the nation provides financial support to its solar companies in a bid to diversify the coal-dependent energy industry.

The Chinese government expects 10 gigawatts of new solar projects in 2013, more than double its previous target and three times last year’s expansion. The country plans to install 35 gigawatts by 2015, compared with a previous goal of 21 gigawatts, government adviser Shi Dinghuan said Jan. 30.

Let’s just hope the sun’s energy can pierce through through that thick sheath of fossil-fuel-induced Chinese smog.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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Solar power set to shine in 2013

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