Green energy investments have quadrupled since 2004

According to the Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009 report released by the United Nations Environment Programme, clean energy companies received $155 billion in investments in 2008, four times as much as in 2004.

That's the good news. The not so good news is that with the economic downturn, that upward trend has decreased in recent months. Investments in the second half of 2008 were down by 17 percent compared to the first half and down 23 percent compared to the last half of 2007. Clean energy investments in 2008 still topped 2007 overall though.

Some of the finer points of the report include:

• Wind had the highest investment in 2008 at $51.8 billion.
• Solar grew the most in new investments with $33.5 billion, a 49 percent increase over 2007.
• Geothermal investments (new and continuing) grew the most in 2008 with an increase of 149 percent.
• Biofuel investments decreased by 9 percent to $16.9 billion.
• Wind and solar costs are dropping because of the surge of investments and increase in production. Solar PV modules are expected to drop in cost by 49 percent this year.
• Developing countries are leading the pack in investment growth with a 27 percent increase over 2007, while Europe and North America saw stalling investments in 2008.
• Government packages are crucial to continued growth in clean energy investment as annual investments need to reach half a trillion dollars by 2020 to meet the recommendations of the IPCC.

You can access the full report here.

via Live Science