Shocking Green

Nope, not a neon color of someone’s hair or shirt but this green (the renewable energy kind of green) does deserve some energetic investigation. The annual Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment revealed that 44 percent of all generating capacity installed last year around the world was renewable. What is more surprising is this occurred in spite of a 14 percent decline in investments. Renewable energy, last year, kept 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Thanks to the falling costs of wind and solar power, more projects can be and are being built. For more than a decade, Germany and the European continent led the way in investment and research but now China has stepped up and taken the lead; investing $56 billion in green power last year. Shares in clean energy companies had been in a free fall since the start of the global recession but actually turned around and rose 54% last year. Let’s hope countries (including ours) forge ahead and don’t pull the plug on something that appears to be a well-grounded investment in our future or at least something able to give power back to the people.