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Solar Power: Renewable Energy Continues to Grow th...

Advancements in technology combined with growing awareness of environmental depletion has led to fast progress in the field of renewable energy. What we are currently witnessing is an unprecedented embrace of renewable energy, something we’ve never experienced before for other types of fuels.

A recent data compiled by the Renewable Energy Network (REN21) shows the global final energy consumption from renewable sources was approaching 16 percent and also powered nearly 20 percent of global electricity.

And not just in industrial world. For example, Algeria is planning to build 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal generating capacity for export to Europe. The Algerians believe that they have sufficient amounts of harnessable energy in their desert to power the entire economy.

The fact is that around the world policies regarding renewable energy are changing. Since 2005, the number of countries with renewable energy policies has more than doubled. Another reason for the growth is the record $211 billion invested in renewable technologies, $41 billion more than 2009.

The number of initiatives to increase the use of renewable energy is growing rapidly worldwide. In the U.S., for instance, Cambridge, Massachusetts, a $1.9 million was allocated to 46 kilowatt grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system on the rooftop of the Daniel F. Burns Apartments.

Housing 196 units, the apartment complex is expected to save $300,000 a year in utility costs when the project is completed. Other aspects of the project being completed by Ameresco, a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, include water saving retrofits, lighting efficiency improvements, roof replacement, and a high efficiency hot water plant.

“As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging” writes Lester Brown in his book “Plan B 4.0″.

A striking but true fact is that the sunlight striking the earth in just one hour is enough to power the world economy for one year. “It’s a vision that has long enticed energy planners: solar panels stretching out over vast swaths of the Sahara desert, soaking up sun to generate clean, green power.”

“Algeria seems an obvious source of solar power.

Africa’s second largest country is more than four-fifths desert, with enough sunshine to meet Western Europe’s needs 60 times over, according to estimates cited by Algeria’s energy ministry.

Algeria already uses photovoltaic solar panels to electrify 18 scattered, off-grid villages in the Sahara, and 16 more are due to come on line by 2009. Two such projects are run by British-based company BP.”

(Read more of the story here…)