Group items tagged

"Globally, Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects $7.7 trillion to be invested in new generating capacity by 2030, with 66% of that going on renewable technologies including hydro. Out of the $5.1 trillion to be spent on renewables, Asia-Pacific will account for $2.5 trillion, the Americas $816bn, Europe $967bn and the rest of the world including Middle East and Africa $818bn. Fossil fuels will retain the biggest share of power generation by 2030 at 44%, albeit down from 64% in 2013. Some 1,073GW of new coal, gas and oil capacity worldwide will be added over the next 16 years, excluding replacement plant."

A new era for commodities Cheap resources underpinned economic growth for much of the 20th century. The 21st will be different. NOVEMBER 2011 * Richard Dobbs, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Fraser Thompson Source: McKinsey Global Institute, Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice In This Article Exhibit: In little more than a decade, soaring commodity prices have erased a century of steady declines. About the authors Comments (2) Has the global economy entered an era of persistently high, volatile commodity prices? Our research shows that during the past eight years alone, they have undone the decline of the previous century, rising to levels not seen since the early 1900s (exhibit). In addition, volatility is now greater than at any time since the oil-shocked 1970s because commodity prices increasingly move in lockstep. Our analysis suggests that they will remain high and volatile for at least the next 20 years if current trends hold-barring a major macroeconomic shock-as global resource markets oscillate in response to surging global demand and inelastic supplies. Back to top Demand for energy, food, metals, and water should rise inexorably as three billion new middle-class consumers emerge in the next two decades.1 The global car fleet, for example, is expected almost to double, to 1.7 billion, by 2030. In India, we expect calorie intake per person to rise by 20 percent during that period, while per capita meat consumption in China could increase by 60 percent, to 80 kilograms (176 pounds) a year. Demand for urban infrastructure also will soar. China, for example, could annually add floor space totaling 2.5 times the entire residential and commercial square footage of the city of Chicago, while India could add floor space equal to another Chicago every year. Such dramatic growth in demand for commodities actually isn't unusual. Similar factors were at play throughout the 20th century as the planet's population tripled and demand for various resource

"Global Trends 2030 is intended to stimulate thinking about the rapid and vast geopolitical changes characterizing the world today and possible global trajectories over the next 15 years."

"There will also be a big focus on renovating older buildings. This sector accounts for 40% of Europe's energy consumption and the proposal aims to create a building renovation market with a value of up to 120bn euros by 2030."

"The global market for conductive inks is estimated at >$2.5 billion in annual revenues and will continue to grow as applications proliferate in sensors, wearables, smart packaging, flexible electronics, OLEDs, thin-film transistors, photovoltaics, smart textiles, automotive and more."

U.S. wind industry has raced past the 20,000-megawatt (MW) installed capacity milestone, achieving in two years what had previously taken more than two decades, according to new figures. The 10,000-MW mark was reached in 2006. Wind now provides 20,152 MW of electricity generating capacity in the U.S., producing enough electricity to serve 5.3 million American homes or power a fleet of more than 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicle, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). "Wind energy installations are well ahead of the curve for contributing 20% of the U.S. electric power supply by 2030 as envisioned by the U.S. Department of Energy," said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. "However, the looming expiration of the federal renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) less than four months from now threatens this spectacular progress. The PTC has been a critical factor in wind's very rapid growth as a part of the nation's power portfolio." The PTC is currently set to expire at the end of 2008.

Even the environmentalists who addressed the final day of an OPEC seminar acknowledged oil was a fuel for the future, with oil, gas and coal expected to account for around 80 percent of the world's energy until 2030.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy issued a report yesterday touting the role that semiconductor-based technologies have played in making the U.S. economy more efficient. At the same time, the International Energy Agency issued its own report calling on governments around the world to be more aggressive with efficiency standards for ICT and consumer electronics, which are expected to demand twice as much power by 2022 and three times as much by 2030 - creating a need for another 280 gigawatts of power generation (i.e. like adding another Japan to the world, or more than 230 nuclear reactors). "This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases," according to an IEA news brief.

""The water footprint, like the carbon footprint, will become an increasingly critical factor to consider in addressing reliable and sustainable energy development worldwide.""

"The collapse of key energy policy pillars of Barroso's decade 1. The world has cheaper and more abundant fossil fuels than expected. 2. The EU internal Market conceived for gas-fuelled plants competition (CCGTs) has to deal with a fierce RES subsidised push. 3. The EU Green Revolution (to push us as world R&D and leading manufacturer of a decade-long green growth) is gone. 4. Carbon pricing originated in the EU and was adopted to some degree here and there but ceased to offer any incentive to change the EU vis-à-vis GHG emissions. 5. The EU Supply Security is lower than at the fall of the Soviet Union, or before the Bush-Blair invasion in Iraq; and the EU has to address it by itself. Then what are the key components that can put EU energy policy back on track toward reaching our 2020-2030 goals? The following policy brief offers a new vision of the energy policy for our new Commission from an independent, academic point of view."

Africa is the world's fastest urbanising continent. In 1950, sub-Saharan Africa had no cities with populations of more than 1m. Today, it has around 50. By 2030, over half of the continent's population will live in cities, up from around a third now. The fastest growing metropolises, such as Nairobi, Kenya's capital, are expanding at rates of more than 4% per year. That is almost twice as fast as Houston, America's fastest-growing metropolis.