Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

The US is actually leading the way on clean energy

us wind farm texas
Wind turbines are viewed at a wind farm on January 21, 2016 in Colorado City, Texas, where wind power accounted for 8.3 percent of the electricity generated in the state in 2013. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Of all the countries in the world, the United States invested the second-most on renewable energy in 2015. Only China outspent us.

Advertisement

American investments reached $44 billion last year, up 17% over 2014. (That figure includes investments from both private companies and government entities.)

This is according to a recent United Nations-backed report with research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Of course, the US and China have two of the world's largest economies, and the report showed total spending — not percentage of GDP that went to renewables.

But the scale of American investment in clean energy is still impressive.

Over half of that $44 billion went to utility-scale solar and wind projects in the US.

Advertisement

The biggest solar investment was the $744 million, 250 Megawatt (MW) Silver State South Solar Project in Primm, Nevada. It will power 80,000 homes when it goes online this year.

And the biggest wind investment was the $560 million, 400 MW Grande Prairie Wind Farm in Holt County, Nebraska. When it opens for business December 2016, it should power 120,000 homes.

Many of these investments were spurred by Congress renewing the renewables tax credits in December, which give clean energy projects tax cuts.

TI_Graphics_developing countries energy2
Tech Insider/Skye Gould

Last year represented a major shift in the global energy landscape. For the first time, the world added more energy from renewable sources than from fossil fuels, according to the UN report.

Advertisement

And this was true in the US as well. More new electricity projects were added using solar in 2015 than natural gas, according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association.

China managed to outspend us by investing a whopping $103 billion in renewables in 2015. That amounted to over a third of the world's renewables investments.

But the US is still spending a considerable amount on the clean energies that will power our future sustainably.

Energy
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account