Research on renewables drops 40% since oil crisis
PARIS, France, 2004-07-28 (Refocus Weekly)
Research in renewable energies has dropped by 40% since the post-OPEC period, according to an analysis by the International Energy Agency.
RD&D budgets among IEA countries from 1974 to 1986 totalled US$158,240
billion, notes ‘Renewable Energy - Market and Policy Trends in IEA Countries.’
Of that amount, 16.7% or $26,496 billion was allocated to renewables, including
hydro. Over the 12-year period, the annual research budget for renewables was
$2,208 billion a year. Another $8,607 billion was spent on conservation, $15,948
billion on nuclear fusion, $20,559 billion on fossil fuels and $84,866 billion
on nuclear fission.
Between 1987 and 2002, total RD&D spending on all energy technologies
dropped to $132,781 billion, with 15.4% or $20,460 billion on renewables. Solar
PV was the largest single technology at $3,636 billion, followed by biomass at
$2,083 billion, wind at $1,465 billion and geothermal at $1,221 billion. Over 15
years, annual spending on renewables was $1,364 billion by all IEA countries.
Spending on fusion dropped to $14,615 billion, fossil fuels dropped to $16,284
billion and fission dropped to $52,663 billion, while conservation almost
doubled to 14,872 billion.
“This latest IEA publication reviews and documents the individual experiences
of IEA countries with each renewable technology, and assesses market and policy
trends in the hope that greater understanding of these dynamics will encourage
better decision making by governments, industry and consumers in the future,”
says Rick Sellers, head of the agency’s renewable energy unit.
Renewables experienced annual growth rates of 3.2% during the 1970-80 period,
2.4% from 1980-90, and down to 1.2% from 1990-2001.
Geothermal was 8.3% per year in the first decade, rising to 9.4% before dropping
to 0.4% in the third, while wind and solar experienced 6.4% annual growth in the
first decade, 23.5% in the second and 23.1% in the third.
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