Global Clean-Energy Markets Skyrocketing
Location: California
Author: Ron Pernick
Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Global clean-energy markets are expanding rapidly, with revenues in four
benchmark sectors — biofuels, wind power, solar photovoltaics, 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.
The 2008 report finds that for the first time three leading clean-energy
technologies each surpassed $20 billion in revenue.
* Global production and wholesale pricing of biofuels reached $25.4 billion
in 2007 and is projected to hit $81.1 billion by 2017. The global biofuels
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 photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and
installation), which 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.
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.
Clean Energy Trends 2008 also outlines five trends poised to make an impact
on the markets this year. They describe:
* How small start-ups are powering markets for electric vehicles
* Sustainable cities are being designed and built from the ground up
* Overseas players are powering the U.S. wind market boom
* Geothermal energy is experiencing a global renaissance as a clean-energy
resource
* New technologies are helping oceangoing ships take a cleaner tack
“Clean energy has moved from the margins to the mainstream and the proof is
in these numbers,” said Clean Edge co-founder and principal Ron Pernick.
“Amid last year’s plummeting housing prices, rising foreclosure rates, and
record high oil prices, clean energy continued to provide a bright spot in
an otherwise sluggish economy.”
To view the full report, click here.
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