An Illustrated Guide to the State of America’s Clean Energy Sector
By Stephen Lacey, Greentech Media.
The U.S. largely depends on fossil fuels to power its economy, but there are signs that the country is getting modestly cleaner.
America has separated oil consumption and electricity consumption from economic growth; energy productivity has increased 11 percent since 2007; non-hydro renewable electricity generation has increased by 4 percent since 2007; wind and solar capacity have grown 2.5 times since 2008; and although carbon dioxide emissions are up 4 percent since 2012 due to an increase in coal generation, they are down 9 percent since 2007.
Those are just a few of hundreds of statistics outlined in Bloomberg New Energy Finance's sustainable energy fact book released this week. Below is a collection of data points from the report that provide insight into how each sector fared in 2014.