[The Vector] Clean Energy Trends 2011 Report
![[The Vector] Clean Energy Trends 2011 Report](https://www.2greenenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/earth-in-our-hands.jpg)
Clean Energy Trends 2011, the annual report from Clean Edge, Inc., was recently published. This is the 10th annual report the company has written on green energy, with now a full decade of accumulated information of the industry.
The authors, including Ron Pernick, tell us that ten years ago when the first Clean Energy Trend report was released, the concept of “clean tech” was virtually unknown in the mass media, among politicians or in business circles. In fact, they say, “At the time, there was one clean-tech institute in India and the United Nations used the term sporadically but decided in a move that only a bureaucrat could love, to use the term “environmentally sound technologies” or ESTs, instead…needless to say, clean tech and clean energy won out—and have moved broadly into the mainstream vernacular…” Exponential growth in renewable energy industries and a growth in recognition and awareness have spread worldwide in a relatively short time.
In the first report, the authors projected that solar power would grow from $2.5 billion in 2000 to $23.5 billion by 2010, while many critics and naysayers believed this to be an overly optimistic and even an outrageously incredible number. In fact, it was a conservative projection – solar PV alone has grown to $71.2 billion in 2010.
The report starts with a “Ten Years At A Glance” chart seen below:
Take a step back and look at what has occurred in alternative energy in the last decade. There have been advances and growth. We tend to see stalled projects, slower growth in the U.S. than found in Europe or China, political groveling and a number of issues that may overtake the perceptions that much is happening in the green world. But clean tech marches on and is growing.
Solar PV expanded from just $2.5 billion in 2000 to more than $71.2 billion today, for a compound annual growth rate of 39.8%. Wind power has expanded worldwide from $4.5 billion in 2000 to more than $60.5 billion today for a compound annual growth rate of 29.7%. The Biofuel industry reached $56.4 billion in 2010 and is projected to grow to $112.8 billion by 2020.
The year of 2010, despite a recovering but unsure economy and unstable capital markets, was one of growth and expansion in the green industry. Combined revenues for solar PV, wind and biofuels surged by 35.2% from the previous year, says the report. Together, the experts at Clean Edge project that these three technologies will grow to $349.2 billion in the next decade.
(to be continued)
