The recent credit-crunch has reduced investment. However, data from various findings suggest that clean technology has stayed mostly immune to the downturn in the economies of the world.
A research Frim in Portland, Ore., released a report Clean Edge which suggested that the earnings from bio-fuels, wind power and solar photovoltaic experienced a growth of 11.4 percent in 2009, with a net value of approximately $139 billion world-wide.
One of the authors, Ron Pernick, says that they were surprised to see that the clean energy sector was actually expanding. Clean Edge had before that predicted that global revenue would level if not start to decline yet the contrary was revealed to occur.
Growth was seen in all the sectors of clean technology. For instance, new wind farms assured a rise in investment from $51.4 billion in 2008 to $63.5 billion in 2009. For the same period bio-fuel increased by 29 percent and reached a plateau of $44.9 billion.
The only source of energy that fell in terms of revenue was the solar industry that experienced its first drop for the decade. In 2009, investment in solar technology decreased by 20 percent reaching a total outlay of $30.7 billion. The main reason accounting for the decline was the fall in the cost of solar photovoltaic.
In America, the flow of venture capital for clean-tech projects decreased from $3.2 to $2.2 billion in 2009. However, energy technology accounted for a larger rise in venture capital which had an increase of $11.4 to 12.5 percent.
The recession might indeed not be fully over but the expectation for clean energy is huge. The study suggests that by 2020 the money spent on alternative energy will be around $325.9 billion.
The government is already promoting clean energy through stimulus packages. China is also planning to invest huge in green technology. It can range from around $440 to $660 billions for the coming decade. South Korea is going to inject $88 billion to clean technology sector within the coming 3 years to 2013.
Source: New York Times
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