REN21”?s Renewables 2011 Global Status Report is a remarkable one, particularly in light of the lasting effects of the Great Recession and all that took place in 2010. The REN21 report shows that renewable energy growth was strong last year. Renewable resources wound up supplying 16% of global final energy consumption and showed strong growth in all three sectors tracked — power, heat and transport. When it comes to electricity, renewable resources supplied an estimated 20% of global annual demand. Renewable power accounted for approximately 50% of new electric capacity globally and delivered nearly 20% of the global electricity supply. By early 2011, fully 25% of global power capacity from all sources came from renewables.

Particularly noteworthy, China and emerging market countries now account for more than 50% of renewable energy resources, while renewable energy rose 5.6% in the US, to account for about 10.9% of domestic primary energy production.

Design and process improvements, manufacturing cost reductions and improved efficiency, particularly in solar, but across the board in wind turbines and biofuel and biomass processing technology all contributed to growth.

Support for renewable energy in terms of government policy continued to improve as well. At least 118 countries had some form of renewable energy policy target or support policy in place at the national level, that’s more than double the number that did in 2005, when EN21 issued its first report.