As indebted, aging consumers naturally pull in consumption and look for ways to lower living expenses (see The American Consumer needs some help), GDP and job growth is booming in the renewable energy sector.
Importantly, a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) finds that unsubsidized renewable energy is now most frequently the cheapest source of energy generation and expected to propel the mass adoption of renewables much faster than previously forecast. This is a tipping point, see Renewable Energy is now the cheapest option–even without subsidies:
“…renewable energy is increasingly cost-effective compared to other sources, even when renewables must compete with the heavily-subsidized fossil fuel industry. Promising signs in the IRENA report show that more an increasing number of corporates are entering the renewable energy industry as the number of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) rise, meanwhile more than 10 million people are now employed in the global renewable energy industry.”
Also see this CNBC video report on the rise of solar and new storage options.
Solar power is on the rise. You can see the evidence both on people’s rooftops and in the desert…[There] are real problems that the industry needs to tackle if solar is going to reach its potential. But if the recent past is any indication, solar might help usher in a carbon-free future faster than we all expected. Here is a direct video link.
The rise of the solar power from CNBC.
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