โ Scribed by Jane Ellis; Stephen Peake
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Although promotion of renewable energy in countries of the International Energy Agency2 is not new, many countries have intensified their efforts in this area over the 1990s. The most widespread measures used are financial incentives, but voluntary agreements, 'green pricing' and targets are becoming more common.
As a result, the use of some renewables has increased since 1990, especially for electricity generation. However, geothermal, solar and wind energy account for only 0.7% of total IEA energy supply and their contribution will remain small as long as their cost remains above that of competing fuel supplies.
Renewable energy policy; financial incentives; buy-back rates; green pricing; voluntary programmes
Energy security and the heavy dependence on oil -which acted as key drivers for renewable energy development in the 1970s -still have relevance today, although the energy picture has radically changed. lEA countries have moved from an era of high energy prices and concern over energy (and particularly oil) supplies to one of relatively low energy prices and reduced concern about energy import dependency.
Moreover, one of the key areas for renewables, electricity generation, is undergoing a period of rapid change as electricity markets are liberalised. This new environment clearly represents a challenge to the further development of renewable energies and government policies in this respect. Environmental concerns that emerged in the 1980s (acid rain) and 1990s (climate change) are now also drivers, as are economic concerns such as regional and agricultural ' The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect any official positlon of the IEA, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, or their member governments.
' IEA countries are Australia,
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