The Cleantech revolution – It’s exponential, disruptive, and now

Experts at RMI chart how the world’s energy systems are being disrupted by the exponential forces of renewable energy, electrification and efficiency with cleantech costs falling 80%, investment up nearly 10 times and solar generation up 12 times in the past decade in their insightful new report.

Meanwhile, electricity has grown to become the largest source of useful energy, and the deep force of efficiency has reduced energy demand by a fifth. As the drivers of change continue to overpower the barriers, cleantech, their report says, will continue to grow up S-curves, pushing fossil fuel demand into terminal decline and, optimistically, pulling the Paris Agreement within our reach.

The RMI team point to three key issues that are critical to understanding how, and how fast the transition is happening and what will happen next:

• Most of the world’s energy is wasted and there is still a lot of room for efficiency gains as part of the transition

• Electrification drives efficiency leading to smarter and more affordable energy use

• China is electrifying quickly...very quickly... and its emissions are peaking.

Read the RMI team’s full report and have a listen to a recent podcast with Tim Buckley, founder of Climate Energy Finance – an organisation supported by the Ethinvest Foundation – on Australia's opportunity in the global cleantech boom.