Greenpeace sees growth in renewable energy use

LONDON, April 7 (UPI) -- Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said Monday major world economies were showing an increase in renewable energy in their grids.

"Renewable energy has expanded, fallen in price and is ready to challenge traditional, polluting forms of energy," Kaisa Kosonen, a senior political adviser for Greenpeace International, said in a statement.

A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found the burning of fossil fuels was a contributing factor to abnormal weather phenomena. Greenpeace said, with IPCC members set to convene Saturday in Berlin, the focus should be on renewable energy resources.

IPCC's report showed the level of greenhouse gas emissions have increased since its 2007 report, though global solar power capacity has increased by a factor of 10 and wind capacity has increase threefold since then.

Demand dynamics, meanwhile, have shifted to Asian economies. Chinese coal consumption is changing in response to major pollution in cities, and host country Germany aims to use renewable energy for 80 percent of its energy demand by 2050.

Kosonen said there's still time to "prevent catastrophic levels of global warming," provided the renewable energy trends continue.

[Greenpeace]