New researches show renewables are close to supplying 10% of global electricity supply, with some of the most notable investment increases coming from developing countries. A newly published research from the UN Environment Programme (2015 UNEP Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investments) shows that US$270 billion was invested in green technologies in 2014, with 103GW of power generation capacity added around the world; of that amount, $139 billion was directed towards developed countries and $131 billion towards developing countries. The 2014 figure marks a 17% jump from the 2013 figure of $232 billion, and researchers registered a strong growth in wind and solar technologies, which last year accounted for 92% of the investment in renewable energies; in fact, wind and solar energy, along with biomass and waste-to-power, geothermal, small hydro and marine power, contributed 9.1% of the global electricity supply in 2014, up from 8.5% in 2013. Also, according to the Executive Director of UNEP Achim Steiner, one of the most encouraging aspects of the report is the “growing penetration of renewable generation in the world’s developing economies”: for example, Indonesia, Chile, Mexico, Kenya, South Africa and Turkey witnessed investments above the billion dollar mark, and in India the sector regained 14%, with $7.4 billion of investment. Among developed countries the US is currently leading, with solar power driving 7% of renewables growth with $36.3 billion of new funds entering the market. The falling of technology costs probably represents the main reason behind this development, as well as the increased urgency to tackle curb emissions and the awareness of the fact that renewables and efficiency measures are reducing greenhouse gas emissions levels. The gLAWcal Team POREEN project Thursday, 2 April 2015 (Source: RTCC)