The world is seeing the first signs of an energy technology revolution with rising investment in low-carbon technologies, but more is needed, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says global markets are seeing the first signs of green shoots in energy technology development as efforts intensify to end world dependence on fossil-based fuels such as oil and gas.
"For several years, the IEA has been calling for an energy revolution to tackle climate change and enhance energy security and economic development,” said Nobuo Tanaka, IEA executive director, while presenting the new IEA study Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) 2010 in Washington, DC. “For the first time, we see early indications that such a revolution is under way. After sowing the seeds for such a revolution in our last edition in 2008 by demonstrating that greater reliance on low-carbon technologies can transform the way we produce and use energy, ETP 2010 now highlights the first green shoots of what could become such a fundamental change.”The Paris-based agency says that, despite the economic downturn, global investment in renewable electricity generation, led by wind and solar, reached an all-time high of around $110 billion in 2008 and remained broadly stable in 2009, but it warns much more needs to be done to achieve the necessary long-term carbon dioxide (CO2) cuts.
The IEA said bringing about a revolution in the way energy is produced, used and secured will require significant investment in low-carbon technologies.
Since the uptake in low-carbon technology investment, the IEA says that in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation for Development (OECD) countries, the rate of energy efficiency improvement has increased to almost 2% per year, more than double the rate seen in the 1990s. Funding for low-carbon energy research, development and demonstration has increased by one-third between 2005 and 2008, helping to reverse a declining trend that started in the early 1980s, with IEA countries and many other major economies aiming to double such investments by 2015.
The agency noted that the largest potential markets for low-carbon technologies lie outside the OECD. Current levels of financing for low-carbon technologies in non-OECD countries are insufficient to support the transition to the low-carbon energy system envisaged in the BLUE Map scenario. An additional $400 billion a year between 2010 and 2030, rising to more than $1 trillion a year from 2030 to 2050, will need to be invested in clean technologies in these countries.
Don’t forget to check out August’s issue of Energy Risk magazine for the Special Report on technology on www.risk.net or www.energyrisk.com
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