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Demand for Clean Energy to Triple in 10 Years

4/23/2008

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. The four sectors are projected to more than triple over the next decade to a total of $254.5 billion by 2017, according to clean-tech research and publishing firm Clean Edge.

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:

• 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

The annual Clean Energy Trends report can be downloaded at no cost at www.cleanedge.com.