The solution to the world’s two biggest crisis — the economic and the global warming crisis — is exactly the same: a huge government investment plan in renewable energy will not only help kick start economies, but it will also help fight global warming, according to a report by Deutsche Bank.
Investment in renewable energy would also help accelerate “grid parity,” the point when electricity generated by solar, wind and other sources becomes cost competitive with power from conventional fossil fuels.
Faced with the worst economic crisis since 1931, governments in Germany and the UK as well as the US and China are planning to use deficit spending to avert a dramatic economic slowdown.
The study by Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM), a member of the Deutsche Bank group, argues that directing any stimulus package towards the renewable energy would benefit not just the economy by boosting jobs and growth but also accelerate the creation of a booming new clean tech industry, so helping to slash greenhouse gases.
Massive investment in renewable energy would also have the advantage of establishing energy independence for countries such as US, China, Germany and the UK from oil and gas imports from crisis-hit regions.
“The current crisis is making the necessity of tackling climate change an opportunity to stimulate growth through investment opportunities,” said Mark Fulton, DeAM’s Global Head of Climate Change Investment Research.
Investments in new improved energy efficiency technologies are especially likely to benefit recession-hit economies by reducing the burden of high fuel costs, the study argues.
Additional measures to stimulate investment in “green” infrastructure and industry, such as smart electricity grids, solar thermal and geothermal power plants, could pay dividends by creating jobs in long-term growth industries…
Though wind power in some locations is already cost competitive, government investment in renewable energy as part of a stimulus package would provide much needed funds to bring down the cost of all types of renewable energy…
Moreover, a recent report by Greenpeace in Germany and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) argues that investment in renewable energy would not represent an additional cost, but would pay for itself out of savings to be made on oil, coal and gas expenditures…
Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Environment Minister, recently affirmed the government’s commitment to the renewable energy sector, saying that 500,000 new jobs could be generated in the green sector by 2020 in Germany…
“Major investment in renewable power and energy efficiency could create an industry a 360 billion-dollar industry, provide half of the world’s electricity, and reduce the hefty 18 trillion-dollar bill expected to for future fossil fuel costs, according to Oliver Schäfer from the EREC.
” ‘Currently, the renewable energy market is worth US $70 billion and doubling in size every three years,’ he said. “The global market for renewable energy can grow at double digit rates until 2050, and overtake the size of today’s fossil fuel industry.”
Governments that include green energy incentives into their stimulus package will not only create jobs, stabilize the economy and protect the environment, but they will also help ensure that their country is well placed to come out of the recession as a world leader in green technology, which is set to dominate the energy market of the future…
View From a New Vrindaban Ridge 
February 27, 2009 at 6:23 am
There was an interesting programme on the BBC recently where a professor examined the world’s efforts at establishing nuclear fission as the answer to the worlds energy needs. Is much better than nuclear fission. There are some major developments going on in that arena.
February 27, 2009 at 10:10 am
Nuclear fission is a short term at best solution and a longterm nightmare with the waste.
I once saw a study where somewhere in the panhandle of Florida, a nuck was planned. It would have cost $2 billion. They found that for $600 million, 1/3 the cost of the nuck, they coudl give everyone in the area to be served by the nuck a new refrigerator and it would have saved as much electricity as the nuck would have generated.
Pushing nuclear power is just a stop gap measure to enable complacency and out of control consumption.