U.S. President Barack Obama says natural gas can be a bridge from coal to a cleaner energy future. Investors are showing it’s more likely a bridge to nowhere. The country’s embrace of natural gas means less love for wind and solar. New investments in renewable energy sources declined 5 percent in North America last year to $56 billion, the lowest since 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. By comparison, North American oil and gas companies spent $168.2 billion on exploration and production last year, more than double 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Fracking — the process of blasting water, sand and chemicals into miles-deep shale rock to extract fuels — has helped push U.S. natural gas production to new highs in each of the past seven years, according to the Energy Information Administration. It’s also more expensive than traditional drilling and contributes to global warming, according to […]