Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished).
New renewables (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) account for another 3% and are growing very rapidly.
[1] Total investment in renewable energy reached $244 billion in 2012.
The top countries for investment in recent years were China, Germany, Spain, the United States, Italy, and Brazil.
[2][3] Leading renewable energy companies include BrightSource Energy, Enercon, First Solar, Gamesa, GE Energy, Goldwind, Nordex, Sinovel, Suntech, Trina Solar, Vestas and Yingli.