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Group Predicts Investment In Clean Energy Will Soar

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By JOHN WILEN, The Associated Press

Published: February 6, 2008

NEW YORK - High oil prices and growing concerns about the environment may drive more than $7 trillion of new investment in clean energy technologies by 2030, an energy research group says.

Public pressure and private investment are combined to bring clean energy technologies - energy sources low in carbon emissions - from the energy industry fringe to its center, said Cambridge Energy Research Associates in a new report. "We are seeing a major shift in public opinion," said CERA chairman Daniel Yergin. "This is providing a vital impetus that is moving clean technology across the great divide of cost, proven results, scale and maturity that has separated it from markets served by mainstream technologies."

Among renewable sources, wind power is poised to make the greatest gains, followed by solar power and biofuels, CERA said. Nuclear and hydroelectric generation will attract almost half of the $7 trillion, CERA said.

In the United States, renewable energy sources account for about 6.5 percent of all energy consumed, the Energy Department said. Nuclear power makes up 8 percent of consumption, dominated by fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal and natural gas. CERA said worldwide there are clean energy clusters, including Brazil, where biofuel technologies are growing; Germany, where a solar energy process called photovoltaic technology is growing; and Spain, a center of wind energy development.

The biggest driver behind clean energy may be high oil and natural gas prices, which make expensive clean technologies economically viable. Government policies that subsidize clean energy, put a price on carbon emissions or mandate reductions in pollutants or use of renewable energy are also key drivers.

CERA noted promising clean energy technologies: geothermal plants that generate energy by tapping heat deep in the earth, ocean generation plants that use wave power to generate electricity and concentrating solar power, where sun rays are focused to create steam-powered electricity.

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