Analysts have continued to forecast rapid earnings growth and high profit margins even in the face of rising energy and food costs and stagnant U.S. and falling European incomes.
Between 1990 and 2010, according to data from the IEA, the share of renewables in total energy consumption has fallen slightly or remained stagnant in virtually all African countries, with the interesting exceptions of Mozambique, Kenya, and Angola.
Unlike other areas identified by the Economist, where technological process has indeed slowed, and economic growth has gone along with it, there may be tremendous potential remaining in the electric energy industry precisely because it has remained relatively bottled up and stagnant for most of the last 100 years.