Poor countries switch to renewable energy two times faster than the developed
In many of these states clean energy is actually cheaper than energy from fossil fuels and hopefully the same can be said on a global scale in the coming years.
Of course, the developed countries have installed more renewable energy. Specifically, 213 megawatts between 2008 to 2013, marking an increase of 84%.
Developing countries have installed along 142 gigawatts between 2008 to 2013, an increase of 143%, according to a report published by Climatescope and zmescience.com quoted.
Energy is cheaper in poor countries
For most of these countries, the transition and the pace is determined by economic considerations, not climate responsibility, as we would like to believe.
In Jamaica, conventional electricity costs about $ 300 per megawatt–hour, but the equivalent power supplied by the solar panels would cost half of that amount. A similar case can be seen in Nicaragua, where the wind has a 50% lower cost compared to conventional energy.
Renewables currently provides just over 6% of total US energy, but according to a report called "American Energy: Renewable Path to Energy Security," new technologies that exploit renewable energy sources are, or will soon be economically competitive with fossil fuels.
US pollutes more than it did in 1990.
Global annual investment in renewable energy has increased almost six-fold since 1995, with cumulative investments in this period of nearly 180 billion.
Despite this massive investment, the US is far behind other developed countries such as Germany, which reached 31% of its energy from renewable sources. Most embarrassing, however, is that the US – the second biggest polluter in the world after China – issue actually more greenhouse gases than it did in 1990.
Developing countries are investing heavily in clean energy
While the US is expected to become cost-effective renewable energy, poorer countries are moving much faster in this sector. For them, solar or wind energy, if applicable, is already a cheaper option.
South Africa, for example, has invested approximately $ 10 billion in the past two years. Together, the 55 countries included in the study have invested 122 billion dollars last year, more than double the amount allocated in 2007 – 59.3 billion dollars.
