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Hello Renewables,
Goodbye fossil fuels!
Would you invest in an industry that has record earnings, growth by 40% in a year and that could save our planet and our financial dilemmas? If your answer is maybe, think again.
What we really need now while enduring an economic slumber party is to wake up the money making giant that gets us out of the pits and back on track. Renewable energy might just be that friendly giant. That’s where the money is, experts tell us.
Despite rising home foreclosures, steadily growing oil prices and consumer uncertainties, we need to hear the good news about the greener side of the energy fence.
Checkpoint Renewable Energy
Bringing in cash and jobs
Revenue generated by just 4 renewable energy sources – solar, wind, biofuels and fuel cells- have grown an amazing 40% to $77.3 billion in 2007, from $55 billion the previous year. With costs for solar and wind significantly dropping over the past thirty years we are getting very close, in some cases, lower than that of traditional energy sources.
For the past decade, solar and wind have been averaging annual growth of 30%. And that was accomplished mostly without federal incentives. While oil and coal were getting the white glove treatment, the clean energy industry had to struggle their way through the crowd of nay sayers and unbelievers. But undoubtedly, the pendulum is shifting in favor of the smarter sources.
The energy of the future is also were the smart money is. Investments and researches are quickly picking up and the goal is to make renewable energy cheaper than coal power.
At least that is the goal of high-tech giant Google. They have heavily invested their cash in industries dominated by European companies that are leaders in wind and solar. They in turn, are significantly investing in the U.S.
Saving us and our children
Most people overestimate the cost for making changes in their energy habits and at the same time underestimate the impact this change can have.
On average the cost for building a green, energy efficient home with near zero or total zero energy output is most likely only to be a mere 5% more than a 'standard' house but it saves a good 19% of emmissions one accumulates just by living in a home that uses fossil fuels as the main energy source.
If you are not interested in investing into such a market you can still find renewable energy working to your financial advantage. How? Think about it this way:
Every dime spent on fighting global warming like investing in research and expansion of clean power components is less money spent on foreign aid.
This fact is sad but true. We know that global warming can and will induce mass evacuations in countries that suffer from droughts, floods and scarcity of food and shelter if greenhouse gas output is not lowered by 90% by 2050. We will have to do our share of supporting the refugees financially of course. But what if we could avoid this by adapting our carbon footprints, lowering them, doing everything now so we don’t have to pay in the future?
Let’s pick a non fossil energy mix, create new high skilled jobs and put our shoulders to the grindstone. Let’s solve the problem!
“ We would do well to ask why governments seem to find it so easy to raise money required to wreck the biosphere, and so difficult to raise the money required to save it.”
- George Monbiot; author of ‘Heat’
Click on the links below for more references