Markets for solar energy, wind energy, and fuel cells are poised to grow

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Report Says Clean Energy Markets to Exceed $100 Billion Market by 2014
Source: GreenBiz.com

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=27828

OAKLAND, Calif., March 22, 2005 - Markets for solar energy, wind energy, and fuel cells are poised to grow from $16 billion in global revenues in 2004 to more than $100 billion by 2014, according to a report released today by Clean Edge, Inc., an energy research and publishing firm.

Clean Edge projects that markets for solar photovoltaics (modules, system components, and installations) will grow from $7.2 billion in 2004 to $39.2 billion by 2014; wind power installations will expand from $8 billion last year to $48.1 billion in 2014; and fuel cells and distributed hydrogen will grow from $900 million to $15.1 billion over the next decade.

The free report, "Clean Energy Trends 2005," examines factors that are influencing clean-energy markets and tracks five key trends, including: how biomass is becoming a significant fuel source being used by such customers as the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines; how centralized solar farms located in sun-rich areas could power entire cities; and how the boom in green buildings is spurring development of technologies that are energy efficient, less toxic, and made from recycled and renewable materials. The report can be downloaded at www.cleanedge.com.

Clean Edge, in collaboration with Nth Power, a leading energy-tech venture firm, also released Nth Power's annual energy-tech venture data. This year's findings, contained in "Clean Energy Trends 2005," show that venture capital (VC) investments in U.S.-based energy-tech companies increased from $509 million in 2003 to $520 million in 2004. These investments, primarily in distributed energy sources, energy intelligence, power reliability, and related services, represented nearly 3% of total VC investments in the U.S. in 2004.

Looks like the market is determined to make a lie out of the insistence from some that we can't make the shift to clean energy and renewables.

[sam sarrha]

1. the Bush Government is still hostile to it tho, Private owners cant use

their own energy 'and' sell it to the grid.

they have to sell it 'ALL' then buy it back from the grid in order to produce it. this eleminates a lot of farmers who really need the cheap energy to survive.

[Deja Q]

5. Money is evil. What's left to say? We're not a society. We're a bunch of

selfish magpies. Sharing is a no-no. Profits are good. Being kind is a no-no. Making money off our toil and death is very good. (you said it yourself, "this eleminates a lot of farmers who really need the cheap energy to survive" - and that is only the beginning.

[robcon]

2. There's no doubt that there is a market for these energy sources.

The problem is cost. If oil stays high, there is a chance for these energy sources to grow. Otherwise, technical breakthroughs on a large scale are needed for each of these technologies for these predictions to come true.

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3. Public investment in the research seems to be the key

If we invest as much as we do on oil and nuclear than we would make some good progress. That includes subsudies for gasoline, SUVs, and fission schemes which employ the same uranium and plutonium that we can't dispose of now. Also, the biomass "boom" should clue folks in on the false argument that hydrogen technology needs to come from nuclear production.

[slor]

4. I want to do this...

anyone here involved in this?

[dweller]

7. check out

www.nanosolar.com

you can sign up for a newsletter/info, learn more about them.

Recently (4/04) they recieved $10.3 million R&D contract from DARPA, were featured on NPR Living on Earth series, and others.

article from FastCompany, Green Power:http://www.nanosolar.com/cache/FastCo2.htm

dp

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6. Rats! Schiavoed again!

Where are those folks clamouring for a change in subject? WP? No snarky quip to offer here?

I'm going to bed . . . :boring:

[Squeech]

8. Kick

I thought I wanted a wind farm, but apparently birds collide with turbines in appalling numbers, so maybe that's not such a good idea.

Plus I understand there are some new wrinkles in photovoltaics that increase their efficiency to a more cost-effective point. (Although there's a tradeoff involved: if I can buy 50 sq ft of 5% efficient panels for the same price as 10 sq ft of 10% efficient panel, I know what I'm really gonna do.)

On reflection, this is a non-story: all it says is that the economic principle of the substitutability of goods continues to work.

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9. another view

This more than a non-story as Squeech would have us believe. There is a great deal to overcome in terms of pricing and availability, but the key is commitment. Oil and gas are only feasable because of the incredible amount of subsidy and public investment, as well as an established infrastructure. of course there is going to be sticker shock at the start, of course there is going to be a period where are obstacles to overcome. But consider the finite oil supply, and consider the costs to the environment and our health and these alternatives become more and more attractive as they are sustainable and renewable.

consider this editorial from Clean Edge:

http://www.cleanedge.com/views.php?id=3458


Coal, oil, and natural gas “make our world work, and there’s nothing else to take their place” was the prevailing view, says SmartPower president Brian Keane. Perhaps the biggest framing hurdle that the clean energy industry faces was summed up in one respondent’s words: “I just don’t think it works.”

After the initial research, SmartPower ran a public information campaign, including TV ads narrated by actor Peter Gallagher spotlighting renewable-powered houses, hospitals, and factories with the tagline, “Clean energy: It’s real. It’s here. And it’s working.” The result? A thousand new customers switched to the local utility’s green power option in 100 days, and the number of people who agreed that clean energy is as reliable as fossil fuels jumped from 40% to 51% in the same period.

The influential framing themes of reliability and affordability could get a big boost from greater public awareness of one of clean energy’s biggest customers: the Department of Defense. Military bases across the U.S. are increasingly turning to renewables, distributed generation, and co-generation under a directive to have adequate plans for on-site power in the event of transmission disruption due to natural disaster, grid breakdown, or terrorist attack. The U.S. Air Force is by far the largest purchaser of green power in the U.S. (more than 321,000 megawatt-hours annually), and one base, Dyess AFB in Texas, is the nation’s largest single-site wind power buyer.

The military’s embrace of clean energy speaks to possibly the biggest framing issue of all: clean energy and energy efficiency as a matter of national security. This effort has gained a lot of recent momentum, and was the topic of a lively session at the Power-Gen Renewable Energy trade show in Las Vegas earlier this month. Reducing oil consumption to lessen the flow of dollars to hostile nations is by far the most compelling argument here, but the global natural gas market is also increasingly showing the bad earmarks of oil with high prices and geopolitical instability.