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Writer Ashyia Hill writes this work on the top 10 countries that take the lead in renewable energy innovation.

With fossil fuel stockpiles running out, the world is in a race against the clock to come up with clean, renewable uses of technology that will meet our needs without hurting the next generation’s ability to meet their needs.  But, which countries are leading the way in renewable energy innovations?

One way to answer this question is by looking at which nations took out the most clean energy-related patents. Economists Antoine Dechezleprêtre and Matthieu Glachant analyzed patent awards by the European Union’s World Patent Statistical Database to see which nations produced the most clean technology inventions between 2000 and 2005.

1. Japan

The Dechezleprêtre and Glachant study found that Japan was responsible for 37.1 percent of innovations related to clean energy between 2000 and 2005. This matches up well with a 2002 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which found Japan’s environmental policies were strict, effective, well-enforced, and properly monitored.

2. United States

The U.S. is the global leader in carbon capture and storage, a method of grabbing CO2 from point sources and storing it so it can’t get into the atmosphere. The United States holds almost 70 percent of CCS patents across the world, according to British non-profit institute Chatham House.

Dechezleprêtre and Glachant found the U.S. came up with 11.8 percent of the world’s green inventions between 2000 and 2005.

3. Germany

In terms of green technology, Germany is best known for its solar panels, although it also uses many other types of renewable energy. The German Ministry for the Environment and Reactor Safety says that over 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity was provided by renewable energy in 2010.

As per Dechezleprêtre and Glachant’s analysis, Germany was responsible for 10 percent of the world’s eco-friendly patents during the studied period.

4. China

China’s growing population is contributing to a bigger demand for energy, and political leaders are investing more into renewable energy for the country. As per the Center for American Progress, China invested $33.7 billion into renewable energy in 2009.

In the Dechezleprêtre and Glachant assessment, China was the source of 8.1 percent of global green innovations.

5. South Korea

South Korea has made renewable energy investing a priority. The South Korean government placed more than 80% of its $38 billion stimulus package into green investments in 2009, according to Forbes magazine.

This small country came up 6.4 percent of the planet’s renewable energy inventions, as per Dechezleprêtre and Glachant.

6. Russia

Like China, Russia has not traditionally been known for focusing on environmentalism, but this is starting to change. Russia’s emphasis on technology and science in education gives this country the potential to become a leader in eco-friendly technology.

In the previously mentioned study, Russia was responsible for 2.8 percent of global renewable energy innovations.

7. Australia

Australia’s status as an island gives it special opportunities and challenges when it comes to environmental decisions. The nation’s prime minister, Julia Gillard, recently unveiled a plan to tax its biggest emitters of carbon dioxide by July of 2012, which would make it the first country to place a price tag on carbon.

Dechezleprêtre and Glachant found that 2.5 percent of green technology-related patents came from Australia.

8. France

As in many European countries, the environment has long been a hot topic in France, and green products are becoming more popular among consumers.

In terms of green inventions, France tied with Australia in the above study.

9. United Kingdom

The U.K. may not produce many renewable energy innovations, but it’s good at importing other countries’ inventions, especially when it comes to wind and water power, according to a Forbes magazine report.

The United Kingdom produced 2 percent of renewable energy innovations covered in the Dechezleprêtre and Glachant study.

10. Canada

Canada isn’t a yet a big player in renewable energy, although a lot of its electricity comes from hydroelectric dams. However, with the use of wind power expanding, Canada has opportunities to pioneer new uses of green technology.

Canada was responsible for 1.7 percent of global green innovations in the patent analysis study.

Although eco-friendly patents and innovations don’t tell the whole story when it comes to a country’s environmental policies, the fact that these countries are investing in renewable energy means they are looking to the future—and that is a big part of the green mindset.

Hill adds: “I was searching for a more modern version of the Dechezleprêtre and Glachant patent study, but I couldn’t find anything on a global scale. Although their study uses information from 2005, it wasn’t published until 2009.”

Ashyia Hill is a business blogger and social media advocate with CreditDonkey, where she helps entrepreneurs evaluate small business credit cards.

Photo: RDECOM

The nation of China – once regarded primarily as the world’s leading coal user and polluter – is now supporting aggressive developments in the in the biomass industry for its energy portfolio in addition to solar and wind alternatives.

According to a report in Renewable Energy World, the Chinese central government has established policies boosting biomass energy development. These favorable policies may foster an era of accelerated growth for alternatives to fossil fuels.

Biomass energy has been increasingly favored by a number of energy firms for its clean, efficient, safe and sustainable features. Some multinational energy companies, including BP, American International Petroleum, BASF and DuPont, as well as the major Chinese players (CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC) are expanding their presence into the biomass energy sector through direct investments.

On March 4, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) entered into a cooperation framework agreement with the government of Shandong province to establish a fuel ethanol and biodiesel production facility. Following this agreement, Sinopec formed a cooperation agreement with China’s largest food processing manufacturer and trader, COFCO. Both companies will jointly build a fuel ethanol manufacturing facility that over the next five years will have an annual capacity of 100,000 tons.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission has reinforced agreements like these, issuing guidelines concerning structural changes within the industry that encourage the development and application of technologies for producing non-grain biomass fuels, including ethanol from cellulosic biomass and bio-diesel.

According to China’s five-year plan for renewable energy during the 2011-2015 period, the country plans to increase the annual usage of ethanol fuel to three million tons by 2015. As reported in April by Renewable Energy World, a renewable energy development strategy report from the Chinese Academy of Engineering states that biomass energy capacity in China is twice that of hydropower and 3.5 times that of wind power.

Tsinghai University’s chemical engineering professor Xing Xinhui said, “while China has built a number of biomass energy projects since the beginning of the last five-year period (spanning 2006-2010), the country still lags far behind other countries in terms of biomass energy investments and has not yet made any breakthrough in biomass energy technology. As a result, it behooves the central government to provide additional support for the industry by increasing its investment in research and development of biomass energy technologies, so as to speed up the development of the industry.”

China has substantial biomass resources, including and residues and leftover waste from the country’s agricultural and forestry. Biomass development is also an appealing economic proposition where non-grain plants can be grown on marginal land and converted to energy.

Presently, China produces 5 million tons of grain annually, generating some 700 million tons of straw that can be used as the main source of biomass energy. Additionally, organic materials like poultry manure, fallen leaves and industrial waste, can be added to the supply mix and converted to biomass energy. The country has announced it will build large biomass production plants in southwest and northwest regions.

This all looks promising as a means for China to move away from dependence on coal energy.

Source: Clean Technica

PHOTO: Inverter-China.com http://www.inverter-china.com/blog/articles/green-energy/biomass-power-in-china.html

Reported today on DallasNews through Climate Progress:

“U.S. companies are getting squeezed out of the big Chinese wind-power market even as Dallas investors are bringing Chinese firms here via a big wind farm in Texas, according to a new industry report.

““They’ve used every measure you could possibly think of to enhance production of renewable energy equipment in China,” said report author Alan Wolff of the trade law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.

“U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk won a pledge from the Chinese last fall to drop rules giving preference to Chinese makers of wind-power equipment. But Kirk’s office hasn’t seen any evidence that the pledge has been carried out, said spokeswoman Carol Guthrie.

“Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers are entering the U.S. wind market under a joint venture led by Dallas investor Cappy McGarr.

“McGarr’s U.S. Renewable Energy Group, with Cielo Wind Power LP of Austin and China’s Shenyang Power Group, is planning a $1.5 billion, 600-megawatt wind farm on 36,000 acres in West Texas.

“Dewey & LeBoeuf’s report on China’s renewable energy equipment market was done for a U.S. industry group, the National Foreign Trade Council, where concern about China’s market restrictions and treatment of foreign firms is growing.”