*Half a trillion a year for a habitable world. Not that I believe every Davos press release, but half a trillion seems like a pretty low price to me. I mean, clean energy is an actual paying industry that involves paying effort, it's not just an extractive sinkhole like oil and coal. Invest in green energy and you're paying half a trillion to yourself.
http://planetark.org/wen/51404
Clean Energy Spending Needs To More Than Triple: Report
Date: 30-Jan-09
Country: SWITZERLAND
DAVOS - Clean energy investment needs to more than triple to $515 billion a year to stop planet-warming emissions reaching levels deemed unsustainable by scientists, the World Economic Forum said in a report on Thursday.
The hefty investments required in renewable energy sectors such as solar and wind energy need to be made between now and 2030, the report, which was co-written by research group New Energy Finance, said. (((After that we just bum around sustainably dancing and mixing mojitos forever off our sugarcane ethanol investments, presumably.)))
"Clean energy opportunities have the potential to generate significant economic returns," the World Economic Forum said in a statement accompanying the report. (((At half a trillion a year? Yeah, I'd think so.)))
Clean energy investments were $155 billion last year, up from $30 billion in 2004 but still far below the $515 billion the report's authors say is needed to combat climate change. (((That's a pretty good growth rate. I mean, that's a third of the way to half a trillion in just one green-hating Bush Administration.)))
Eight sectors are expected to contribute to the shift toward green energy, the report said. They include onshore wind, offshore wind, photovoltaic solar power, solar thermal energy, municipal solar waste-to-energy, sugar-based ethanol, cellulosic and other second-generation biofuels and geothermal power.
Also on Thursday, top climate change officials including Yvo de Boer of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change urged governments to use a portion of fiscal stimulus packages to invest in clean energy... (((Bust the bank, save the planet. What the heck, I'd rather have a windmill than a Real Estate Investment Trust.)))
