Great news on the energy front - "investment" in "clean energy" tumbled in Australia in 2014

The Bloomberg organisation reports on capital movements into and out of green schemes at its website Bloomberg New Energy Finance - it's just released its report for 2014.

It's hard to get excited about expensive greenie-schemes for dearer electricity here in the home of Australia's coal-export industry.   Bloomberg's excited - but then its audience is people who want to get rich on the back of more expensive power for people - thus their breathless headline:

Rebound in clean energy investment in 2014 beats expectations

Surges in investment in offshore wind in Europe, and solar in China and the US, helped to drive the 2014 global clean energy total up 16% to $310bn

London and New York, 9 January – World clean energy investment rebounded strongly in 2014, boosted by demand for large-scale and rooftop solar photovoltaics on the back of its greatly improved competitiveness, and by the financing of a record $19.4bn of offshore wind projects.

Authoritative annual data, published today by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, show that global investment in clean energy was $310bn last year. This was up 16% from a revised $268.1bn in 2013, and more than five times the figure of $60.2bn attained a decade earlier, in 2004, albeit still 2% below the all-time record of $317.5bn reached in 2011 .

But the news is not all bad - here's the result for Australia after a dose of common sense last year:

In Australia, clean energy investment tumbled 35% to $3.7bn, the lowest since 2009, as wind and solar project developers delayed decisions while they awaited the government’s response to its Renewable Energy Target review.

Good to see the madness of Christine Milne's $10 billion bank and sundry other extravagances coming to a close.

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