Renewable Energies to double by 2020

The global wind, solar, and biofuels industries are poised to double within the next 10 years. In this year's "Clean Energy Trends report" Clean Edge has included information comparing where the world was ten years ago to where it is now. The combined global market for solar and wind power is $131.6 billion today, but in the year 2000, it was only worth $6.5 billion. This enormous increase shows a positive shift towards clean energy sources which should be seen as a remarkable achievement.

This latest report has some interesting figures. The current global industry projections, for biofuels, put biofuels at twice its current value, $56.4 billion for 2010 and predict it will grow to $112.8 billion by 2020. It surveys the global wind industry at $60.5 billion for 2010, predicted to grow to $122.9 billion by 2020. The global solar industry is placed at $71.2 billion for 2010, predicted to grow to $113.6 billion by 2020.
The last decade, in the U.S., for example, there were less than 10,000 hybrid vehicles on the road in 2000 compared with more than 1.4 million hybrid vehicles in 2010. The percentage of U.S. Venture Capital spent on clean technology in 2000 was 1.2 %, compared to over 23% in 2010.
Clean Edge has been tracking data and releasing reports on these and related industries for a decade, and has made some really good predictions. They have only fallen short because some of the company's prior predictions have been more on the conservative side. It was predicted that major alternative energy industries would grow from $7 billion in 2000 to more than $82 billion by 2010. Therefore, the Market has actually exceeded expectations.
Clean Edge also predicted that wind power would grow to more than $49 billion by 2012, and that's already at $60.5 billion for 2010.
According to the report, there are 5 additional key trends that will significantly affect the alternative energy markets in the coming years. Incandescent phase-out lights the way for low-Cost LEDs, natural gas advances as a powerful partner for wind and solar energy, cleaner aviation fuels are poised for take-off, low-cost green building brings relief and sustainability around the world and innovation provides alternatives to rare earths.