Investments in renewable energy, 2011

from The Worldwatch Institute, published today:

Investments in renewable energy technologies continued their steady rise in 2011. Total new investments in renewable power and fuels (excluding large hydropower and solar hot water) jumped 17 percent—reaching $257 billion, up from $220 billion in 2010 (See Figure 1.). In a year marked by falling costs for renewable energy technologies, net investment in renewable power capacity was $40 billion greater than investment in fossil fuel capacity (Through the first half of 2012, however, total investment fell behind the impressive pace set the previous year, attracting slightly under $108 billion compared with nearly $125 billion in the first half of 2011.).

and

A major development in 2011 was the dominance of solar power in technology-specific investments, driven by a 50 percent reduction in price over the year, with $147.4 billion invested in this technology compared with $83.8 billion for wind projects and $10.6 billion for biomass and waste-to-energy technology