Useful Stats: Clean Energy Market Will Experience Dramatic Growth over Next 10 Years

Clean Edge's annual report on clean technology trends was released earlier this year and includes valuable data for any state building a comprehensive plan to encourage alternative energy technologies. The research and publishing firm, which actively supports investment in clean energy technologies, predicts rapid growth in clean energy markets by 2015. As these technologies become cost-competitive with nonrenewable sources of power over the next 10 years, the market for biofuels, wind power, solar power, and fuel cells will grow to four times its current size.

Clean Energy Technology

2005

2015

Biofuels

$15.7

$53.5

Wind Power

$11.8

$48.5

Solar Power

$11.2

$51.1

Fuel Cells

$1.2

$15.1

Total

$39.9

$167.2

Source: Clean Edge, Clean Edge Trends 2006.

 

Read Clean Edge Trends 2006 at: http://www.cleanedge.com/reports-trends2006.php

(Summary available through above link; free registration required for full article)

 

Wind Energy Potential

As SSTI reported last year, 2005 was a record year for wind energy installations across the country according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA, see the Dec. 12, 2005 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest at http://www.ssti.org/Digest/2005/121205.htm#Renewable). The industry group now reports that in August 2006 wind energy passed the 10,000-megawatt-per-day mark in the U.S., producing enough electricity to power 2.5 million homes in a single day. This puts wind power in position to meet the projections of the Clean Edge study and makes it the second-largest source of new electricity production after natural gas. President Bush announced earlier this year that this type of power could provide as much as 20 percent of U.S. electricity.

 

Wind power in Texas met a milestone this summer, surpassing California as the country's leading producer of wind energy. Of the top five states for wind production - Texas, California, Iowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma - only Texas ranks in the top five for potential wind energy production, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. A 1991 Pacific Northwest Laboratory Study ranks North Dakota, Texas, Kansas, South Dakota, and Montana as the top states for wind potential. There remains ample opportunity to increase activity in the wind industry in every state.

 

Production

Daily Production (MWh)

Annual Potential Production (thousand MWh)

Texas

2370

1,190,000

California

2323

59,000

Iowa

836

551,000

Minnesota

756

657,000

Oklahoma

475

725,000

North Dakota

128

1,210,000

Kansas

264

1,070,000

South Dakota

44

1,030,000

Montana

147

1,020,000

Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_installed_capacity.asp, and the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, 1991.

 

Learn more about state wind power activities at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/state_activities.asp