U.S. No. 2 to China in Clean Energy Investments in 2014

The electric power industry is turning away from coal, and clean energy is growing again in the U.S. as investments in renewables increased in 2014 after a three-year decline. 

Those are the conclusions of the 2015 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook report released jointly Wednesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, which ranks the U.S. as second in the world behind China for clean energy investments in 2014.

“Against the backdrop of a surging economy and crumbling oil prices, major trends around decarbonization and improving energy productivity continued in the United States,” Michael Di Capua, head of Americas research for Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in a statement.

U.S. investments in clean energy jumped to $52 billion in 2014 from $48 billion the previous year, a 7 percent increase. Bloomberg ranked China first globally with $89 billion in clean energy investments, up from $68 billion in 2013.

Greater financing for wind farms and rooftop solar drove U.S. renewables investments last year as the U.S. became the world’s second-largest market behind China for new wind turbine construction, and the third-largest for new solar power installations behind China and Japan.

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