It is not at all an exaggerated fact when we repeatedly talk about how the world is rapidly waking up to the fact that it needs to convert its lifestyle to a greener fashion so as to survive in to the next century. It is simple and inevitable truths that if the world fails to recognize this fact, not only will it put itself in peril but would also cause irrevocable damage to the planet. If we are to give a planet that the future can be proud to claim as its own, then we need to start cleaning up our lives right now. The world trend and the clean energy market exactly tell us the same thing.
Global clean-energy markets are expanding rapidly, with revenues in four benchmark sectors – biofuel, wind power, solar photovoltaic, and fuel cells – up 40 percent from $55 billion in 2006 to $77.3 billion in 2007, according to the Clean Energy Trends 2008 report released today. The four sectors are projected to more than triple over the next decade, growing to $254.5 billion by 2017. If that is not a great bright sign telling us that we are on the path of cleaning up our planet and helping it rejuvenate itself to its very best, then I do not know what is.
Global production and wholesale pricing of biofuel reached $25.4 billion in 2007 and is projected to hit $81.1 billion by 2017. The global biofuel market last year consisted of more than 13 billion gallons of ethanol and more than 2 billion gallons of biodiesel production worldwide. Wind power is expected to expand from $30.1 billion in 2007 to $83.4 billion in 2017. Last year’s global wind power installations reached a record 20,000 megawatts (MW), equivalent in size to 20 conventional fossil-fuel power plants. Solar energy totaled $20.3 billion last year, will more than triple to $74 billion by 2017. Annual installations in 2007 were just shy of 3,000 MW worldwide.
All this can only mean that we are becoming less dependant on fossil fuel sources and that is a wonderful thing to know. New global investments in energy technologies – including venture capital (VC), project finance, public markets, and research and development – have expanded by 60 percent from $92.6 billion in 2006 to $148.4 billion in 2007, according to research firm and Clean Energy Trends content partner New Energy Finance. In the U.S., venture capitalists invested $2.7 billion in the clean-energy sector, representing almost 10 percent of total VC activity. This all adds up to the simple fact that the world is finally waking up and taking notice of the catastrophe that is impending if it does not change its traditional ways. While the trends are nice to see, progress at a faster pace would surely help.
