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Global use of clean energy technologies increased rapidly

An International Energy Agency report said that the global use of clean energy technologies has increased rapidly over the past decade, but that growth has been outpaced by fossil fuels.

IEA said that coal was the fastest growing energy source in 2000-2010, meeting 47% of new energy demand. Renewable share of global energy production fell to 18.5% in 2008, from 19.5% in 1990, according to the report, largely because of slow growth in large hydroelectric generation.

Renewable energy growth has been driven almost entirely by policy support, such as mandatory targets and production or investment tax incentives.

IEA found that but although renewable energy receives about USD 57 billion in government subsidies in 2009 dollar terms, fossil fuel consumption subsidies are about USD 312 billion globally.

It said that "To achieve renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction targets, 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."

The agency voiced concern about government austerity measures, which could cut funding for renewable development at a time when increased support is necessary to achieve long term growth. It added that "Achieving sustainable energy goals will require a doubling of all renewable energy use by 2020."

IEA said solar photovoltaic generation was the most rapidly growing technology in the past decade, with estimates showing a cumulative installed capacity of solar PV of roughly 40 GW at the end of 2010, up from 1.5 GW in 2000. The agency said 17GW were added in 2010 alone, with roughly half of that in Germany.

IEA said that China, which only began installing wind in 2005, has become the world's largest domestic wind market. But although China added about 17GW of wind in 2010 alone, the lag to connect the wind generation to the grid means it only accounts for about 1pc of the country's total electric generation.

The US had the highest growth rate in using biomass, biogas and biofuels in the past decade, but globally only about 20% of biomass used to generate heat is used on an industrial scale.

IEA said that "Most biomass is currently used for traditional small scale domestic heating and cooking, mostly in developing countries."

The US invests more to develop biomass and biofuels than any other country, spending USD 2.6 billion in 2005-2010 on biomass technologies and USD 189 million in 2010 on biofuels.

The US broadly invested more federal dollars on renewable energy research and development, spending USD 4.9 billion in 2005-2010 or about 40% of all global investment. The US investment in the last half of the decade was up significantly the country spent USD 1.4 billion in 2000-2005.

IEA said that a clean energy revolution is necessary to de link greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth and increase global energy security. Although such a revolution calls for unprecedented investments in clean, low carbon technologies, those investments will provide equally unprecedented benefits.

(Sourced from www.argusmedia.com)