By Tom Burton and Paul Dickerson 

We are now in the teeth of the most profound oil bust since the 1980s, but this time, investment in renewable energy development continues apace even as crude is scraping against 12-year lows. The supply of wind power, measured in British thermal units, rose more than threefold between 2008 and 2015, and the supply of solar power rose almost sixfold, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Wind power is expected to rise another 23 percent and solar another 36 percent by the end of 2017.