Bloomberg New Energy Finance: Clean Energy Defies Fossil-Fuel Price Crash to Attract Record $329B Global Investment in 2015

2015 was also the highest ever for installation of renewable power capacity, with 64 GW of wind and 57 GW of solar PV commissioned during the year, an increase of nearly 30% over 2014.

Clean energy investment surged in China, Africa, the U.S., Latin America and India in 2015, driving the world total to its highest-ever figure, of $329.3B, up 4% from 2014's revised $315.9B and beating the previous record, set in 2011 by 3%.

The latest figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance show dollar investment growing globally in 2015 to nearly six times its 2004 total and a new record of one-third of a trillion dollars, despite four influences that might have been expected to restrain it.

Reuters: RWE's Renewables Profits Likely Doubled in 2015

German utility RWE's profits from renewables likely more than doubled last year, its chief executive said on Wednesday, citing expansion of its wind power business that it hopes will help a shift away from coal, gas and nuclear.

Innogy, RWE's renewables unit, more than doubled its operating profit to about 400 million euros (300.34 million pounds) in 2015, Peter Terium told journalists. In 2014, Innogy's operating profit was 186 million euros.

Washington Post: What's So Significant About Oil Prices at $30 Per Barrel

The declines in oil prices aren’t as steep as on prior days this year, but what’s significant is the new move toward $30 per barrel oil -- with WTI crude breaking briefly below $30 at $29.93 before closing at $30.44 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That represents a key psychological level for investors, said Peter Pulikkan, an energy analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, one that would cause traders to “reassess their perceptions of the oil market.”

“The market has been readjusting to the notion of ‘lower for longer’ -- that was kind of the mantra of the oil space for 2015,” Pulikkan said. “And as we enter 2016, the mantra has changed. The new mantra is ‘even lower, for even longer.'”

Climate Progress: How a Solar Decision in Nevada Could Shape the 2016 Presidential Results

Nevada has a Republican governor, three out of four Republican representatives, and a Republican senator. But even under this state majority, the state went for President Obama in 2008 and 2012 -- and a recent decision by the commission that oversees Nevada’s utilities might keep it in the blue this year, which could have outsized importance on election night.

Meanwhile, public support for solar in Nevada is strikingly bipartisan, as it is in most of the country. Across party lines, roughly nine in 10 Americans support solar power, and according to a poll commissioned last spring by The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), 69 percent of Republican likely voters and 80 percent of Democratic likely voters would be “unlikely” to re-elect a politician who failed to raise the solar net metering cap.

Vox: That Time Marco Rubio Called for a Cap-and-Trade Program

Back in 2008, when he was Speaker of the Florida House, Marco Rubio wanted to give Florida's state environmental agency a "mandate" to design a "cap-and-trade or carbon tax program."

That's from the short video clip below, which surfaced on YouTube this week, possibly posted by a Rubio rival in the hopes that it would hurt his GOP presidential bid (given that "cap and trade" is now an obscenity among conservatives).

PV Tech: Algeria Installed 268 MW of Solar in 2015

Algeria installed roughly 268 MW of solar PV capacity in 2015, according to Algeria’s state-owned renewable energy research institute CDER.

SKTM, a subsidiary of state-owned utility Societe Nationale de l’Electricite et du Gaz (Sonelgaz), was mainly responsible for the strong progress in PV deployment last year, particularly in the highlands and southern regions.

In February last year, the Algerian government adopted an updated development program for renewable energy and efficiency. The target of the national renewable energy program is to install 22 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 and for energy efficiency to save 9% of energy usage by the same date.