Technology and Innovation Report 2011: Powering Development with Renewable Energy Technologies, by Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Michael Lim and Carlos Razo, New York: UNCTAD, 2011, 151 pp.

The theme ‘powering development with renewable energy technologies (RETs)’ in the Technology and Innovation Report 2011 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is most timely when the world needs to respond to a phenomenon. On the one hand, access to energy is essential for fuelling development in order to ameliorate the living conditions of 7 billion people and yet on the other hand it is becoming more evident that continued usage of conventional energy (primarily fossil fuels) is causing climate change. As acknowledged in the report, recent events, from both economic and environmental perspectives have further spurred the efforts toward looking at new ways to fuel development. Researchers, governments, NGOs and businesses can benefit from examples of the experiences of the developed and developing economies described in the report.