A $7 Trillion Future in Clean Energy

If you’re worried about investing in green technology in today’s volatile market, consider a new analysis by the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) that estimates that worldwide clean energy investment could surpass US$7 trillion by 2030.

According to CERA’s report, “Crossing the Divide: The Future of Clean Energy,” the public concern over climate change will have a major impact on public policy and lead to more private investment in clean energy technologies.

"The rapidly advancing new paradigms of climate change, energy security, and policy implementation and cooperation among the United States, the European Union, China and others will produce a broad range of opportunities, risks and pitfalls as the modern energy industry increasingly moves to adopt clean technologies that will be part of the alternative, low-carbon pathway to the energy future," said Robert LaCount, head of CERA's Climate Change and Clean Energy Group.

The report offers a number of insights about the future for clean energy, including the following:

- Clean energy clusters are bubbling up, and specializing in specific areas of the market. Examples include Brazil in biofuels, Germany in photovoltaic (PV) technology, Spain in wind technologies.

- Renewable power technologies will see significant growth, with wind making the biggest gains, followed by solar and biomass power.

- Government policy will drive investments by putting a price on CO2 emissions, setting mandates, and providing subsidies.

- Nuclear and hydroelectric generation will account for most of the clean energy impact for the next decade, and almost half the gross clean power additions by 2030.

The CERA report also tries to predict winners and losers in the clean energy market by creating three separate scenerios that define future risks and opportunities. Energy that can be created with a minimal carbon footprint and facilitate greater energy security – biofuels, renewable power technologies, carbon capture and storage, nuclear and hydropower – was a major point of emphasis in all three scenerios.