Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Stunning Fact: Bloomberg Reports World Energy Efficiency Investment Is Just $14.9 Billion

Is it right? Could global investment in energy efficiency be just $14.9 billion? That's the total Bloomberg reports the world spent on energy efficiency in 2013.
http://about.bnef.com/bnef-news/china-spends-more-on-energy-efficiency-than-u-s-for-first-time/.

The Bloomberg piece focuses on China surpassing the US in energy efficiency investments, a change of international position that is notable. But more startling is the report that global investment in energy efficiency is just $14.9 billion, as of 2013.

That amount of capital spending is equal to about 2 nuclear plants or about 14,000 megawatts of natural gas plants in the USA or about 7,000 megawatts of wind energy in the USA.  In short, it is a very small amount compared to global investment in generating new electricity supply.

What counts for Bloomberg as an energy investment is not clear to me? Is it just utility and government expenditures?  Looks like it does.

Or does the Bloomberg number also include purchases of energy efficient products by families and businesses. Probably not. In which case, the Bloomberg number understates substantially the scale of global energy efficiency investment.

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