2.65M TO BE EMPLOYED IN WIND & SOLAR BY 2018

"2.65M TO BE EMPLOYED IN WIND & SOLAR BY 2018According to the latest market research from Clean Edge the wind and solar
power industries will experience huge growth in the next 10 years creating
2.65 million jobs worldwide, increased from about 600,000 today. However
despite the positive long term message, investment in renewable energy in
2009 is likely to decline or stay flat.The following is an excerpt from Clean Energy Trends 2009. To read the full
report, please download the PDF file by clicking on the link below.In last year's Clean Energy Trends report, we noted that 2008 would prove
to be another banner year for clean energy even in the face of a brooding
economic storm. That prognosis proved correct, with revenue growth among
our three key clean-energy sectors expanding by 50 percent globally between
2007 and 2008.Last year's significant revenue increase was based on a number of factors,
including the continued double-digit expansion of our tracked markets as
well as growing wind farm development costs due primarily to high-demand,
low-supply market dynamics that loomed throughout most of 2008. We don't
see a repeat performance of such growth happening in 2009.Clean Edge, which has been tracking the growth of clean-tech markets for
nearly a decade, reports that global revenues for solar photovoltaics, wind
power, and biofuels expanded from $75.8 billion in 2007 to $115.9 billion
in 2008. For the first time, one sector alone, wind, had revenues exceeding
$50 billion. New global investments in energy technologies—including
venture capital, project finance, public markets, and research and
development—expanded by 4.7 percent from $148.4 billion in 2007 to $155.4
billion in 2008, according to research firm New Energy Finance.Severely tightened credit markets also began to take their toll. In late
2008 and early 2009, the extent of constrained credit became apparent, with
a range of clean-energy companies delaying plans, laying off staff, or
scuttling projects entirely. While we expect to see continued growth for
the sector in the mid- to long-term, we believe 2009 will be a year of
refocus, consolidation, or retrenchment for many firms. At the same time,
new government spending, regulation, and policies should help the sector
weather the current economic crisis better than most other sectors. On
balance, we believe clean energy and energy intelligence will be seen as a
means to help economies around the world pull out of the current economic
malaise.According to Clean Edge research:Biofuels (global production and wholesale pricing of ethanol and biodiesel)
reached $34.8 billion in 2008 and are projected to grow to $105.4 billion
by 2018. In 2008 the global biofuels market consisted of more than 17
billion gallons of ethanol and 2.5 billion gallons of biodiesel production
worldwide. For the first time, ethanol leader Brazil got more than 50
percent of its total national automobile transportation fuels from
bioethanol, eclipsing petroleum use for the first time in any major market.Wind power (new installation capital costs) is projected to expand from
$51.4 billion in 2008 to $139.1 billion in 2018. Last year's global wind
power installations reached a record 27,000 MW. In the U.S., which
accounted for more than 8,000 MW, wind installations represented more than
40 percent of total new electricity generating capacity brought online in
2008 – and moved the U.S. ahead of Germany as the world's leading generator
of wind energy.Solar photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and
installation) will grow from a $29.6 billion industry in 2008 to $80.6
billion by 2018. Annual installations reached more than 4 GW worldwide in
2008, four times the total set just four years earlier, when the solar PV
market reached the 1 GW milestone for the first time in 2004Together, we project these three benchmark technologies, which equaled
$75.8 billion in 2007 and expanded 50 percent to $"