Renewed Interest in Clean Energy

By Grit Staff
Published on July 30, 2008
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iStockphoto.com/Jarek Szymanski

The United States isn’t the only country focused on renewable energy these days. More than 65 countries currently have goals for moving the use of renewable energy to the front burner, and officials worldwide are enacting policies to meet those goals.

In “The Renewables 2007 Global Status Report,” the Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century and the Worldwatch Institute report encouraging news from the renewable energy front. The industry is stepping up production of energy from wind, solar, geothermal and small-scale hydropower sources, with global wind generation capacity increasing 28 percent in 2007. Grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity rose 52 percent.

The report was produced by an international team of 140 researchers and contributors from developed and developing nations. The team assessed energy sources as a means of improving each country’s energy security and stimulating economic development.

According to the report, renewable energy accounts for 2.4 million jobs around the world, and electric generating capacity has doubled since 2004, now standing at 240 gigawatts.

To download a copy of the report, go to www.Worldwatch.org/files/pdf/renewables2007.pdf. For more information, visit the Web sites for the Renewable Energy Network or the Worldwatch Institute.

Back in the United States, a report shows that 2007 was a banner year for clean energy, despite a slower economy. Clean Edge, a technology information reporting firm, has been tracking the growth of clean-energy markets since 2000. They report a 40-percent increase in revenue for solar photovoltaics, wind, biofuels and fuel cells, at $77.3 billion in 2007, up from $55 billion in 2006. Wind sources now generate more than $30 billion in revenue.

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