Ranking Renewable Investment Attractiveness

Ernst & Young has a report, "Renewable energy country attractiveness indices", that tries to measure how "attractive" different countries are for investment in renewable energy projects. According to the report,

The Ernst & Young country attractiveness indices provide scores for national renewable energy markets, renewable energy infrastructures and their suitability for individual technologies.

The U.S. still ranks #1, but China is now #1 in wind power. Germany has moved to #3.

Some of the factors affecting these rankings include that the U.S. Senate is unlikely to pass the climate bill until next year (-), the US is providing up to $30 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects (+), China is amending their renewable energy law to set a minimum quota for electricity produced by renewables (+), Germany

Treehugger's post, U.S. Still #1 "Most Attractive" for Renewable Energy, But China is Catching Up, comments,

I was a bit surprised to see that Japan only ranks #21 on the list. I expected them to be a bit more friendly to renewables... Good to see Canada in the top 10, though. Now if only they could do something about the tar sands.

There are a number of things the U.S. could do to improve the attractiveness for investment in renewables, and President Obama has begin working toward this end. Among these are tax incentives, increased loan guarantees, and getting the cap-and-trade climate bill passed (because it's the only option on the table.)

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