Everyone is well aware that renewable energy is the way of the future, however that time may be farther away than we realize. Government subsidies by the Obama administration have wasted money on green energy initiatives that are not yet economically viable. Market Watch reports on how new technology in fracking and natural gas has delayed the development of renewable energy:
Renewable energy stocks have struggled in 2012 as the result of falling commodity prices. The recent glut of natural gas has caused prices to plummet making it a more affordable option.
The current abundance of shale gas, which has become readily available with the emergence of “fracking,” has begun to stunt the growth of renewable energy. The present glut of natural gas has seen prices free fall from its high of $20 per million British thermal units in 2003, to the current lows of under $3. The low prices of natural gas will continue to pose a threat to the future growth of wind and solar energy until at least 2030 according to the International Renewable Energy Energy Agency, a United Nation’s agency.
“In the next two decades, I would say probably there will be less of a gas-price increase than projected five years ago,” says Dolf Gielen, the director of Irena’s Innovation and Technology Centre. “And the net effect, of course, of less increase in gas prices is less rapid growth of renewables.”
