14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recent report, significant progress has been made in recent years in terms of promoting the use of clean energy on a global scale and consequently reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Thus, recent data indicates that the world now sports twice as much green energy capacity as it did back in 2004, when people were just beginning to take an interest in renewables, Inhabitat informs.
Specifically, Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, otherwise known as REN21, says that, since 2004, the global clean energy capacity has switched from being one of 800 gigawatts to being one of 1,560 gigawatts.
Interestingly enough, it looks like the global solar photovoltaic capacity is the one to have increased the most, i.e. 53 times. Wind power capacity did not do all that bad either, and is now 7 times greater than its 2004 value.
Needless to say, it's heavy investments in technologies that make it possible to harvest renewables that need be thanked for this improvement in the global energy sector's ecological footprint.
More precisely, it looks like global investments in clean energy in 2013 amounted to $214.4 billion (approximately €157 billion). By comparison, their value in 2004 was one of just $39.5 billion (€28.93 billion).