RENEWABLE ENERGY

Growth in renewable energy is being driven by a variety of factors. One of the most important is the need to protect the environment by reducing the level of greenhouse gas emissions in light of widespread acceptance of the role of greenhouse gas in causing global warming. The need for security and diversity of energy supply are also important factors and in particular, a desire to reduce energy reliance on politically unstable regions of the world. In addition, rising energy prices and improvements in renewable energy technology and efficiency are enabling renewable energy to become increasingly competitive with non-renewable sources. As opposed to fossil fuels, which draw on finite resources that may eventually become too expensive to retrieve, renewable energy sources are generally unlimited in availability.

As the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions have become more widely understood, inter-governmental action resulted in the adoption by 169 countries (as of December 2006) of a number of initiatives designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions most notably the Kyoto Protocol, which came into force on 16 February 2005 and, inter alia, promotes the development and usage of renewable energies through the provision of financial support from governments whilst penalising the major producers of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Chinese government has started to enforce the Renewable Energy Law and has announced that by the year 2020, 16 per cent. of the PRC’s total energy consumption should be renewable energy, including 1.8 GW through solar power.