Renewable energy has come of age.
That's how Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, explained to reporters last week why, for the first time in its history, the oil-focused IEA would be producing medium-term market reports on sources like solar, wind, biomass and other forms of nonhydrocarbon-based sources of power.
"Renewable energy has seen a huge expansion in the last decade and has increasingly become a part of the global energy mix, and today with the arrival of this report, renewable energy is taking its rightful seat at the table alongside the IEA's medium-term market report for established fuels like coal, gas and oil," Ms. van der Hoeven said.
The report certainly boasted statistics impressive enough to justify the rhetoric. Global power generation from hydropower, solar, wind and niche technologies such as bioenergy and ocean tidal power is expected to reach a combined 6,400 terawatt hours (TWh) per year by 2017, or about 50% more than all the electricity currently being produced in the United States. This will be achieved despite globally intensifying economic uncertainty and growing budgetary constraints, the report said.
Plummeting prices of key components such as solar PV panels are allowing more than just the world's wealthiest nations to build renewables infrastructure, which the report cited as a key reason for the coming rapid growth.
Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Rise+Renewables/6930132/story.html#ixzz20aymJipT
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