The three major clean energy sectors – solar photovoltaics (PV), wind energy and biofuels – are expected to reach $325.9 billion by 2019, according to Clean Edge’s Clean Energy Trends 2010 (PDF – Free registration required).

Clean Edge predicts that solar PV will grow from $30.7 billion in 2009 to $98.9 billion in 2019. Wind power will grow from $63.5 billion in 2009 to $114.5 billion in 2019, and ethanol and biodiesel will grow from 2009’s $44 billion to $112.5 billion in 2019.

Clean energy will also continue to drive the creation of new jobs.

“From the smart grid and energy efficiency to renewable energy generation and advanced battery storage, clean tech continues to be a major driver of regional job growth, economic recovery, and technological competitiveness,” said Ron Pernick, Clean Edge co-founder and managing director.

Clean Edge projects that wind and solar alone will create 3.3 million global jobs in the next decade.

Clean-energy investments have grown from just .09 percent of total U.S. VC funding in 2001 to 12.5 percent in 2009, totaling $2.2 billion in U.S. investments in 2009.

Some believe that clean energy will be Silicon Valley’s third era of innovation, following the region’s innovation leadership in the personal computers and the internet.

“Energy is the biggest opportunity Silicon Valley has ever seen,” T.J. Rodgers, the founder of Cypress Semiconductor and chairman of SunPower, which makes PV panels, told the San Jose Mercury News. According to Deloitte, California companies received 40 percent of global cleantech VC funding in 2009.

Clean Energy Trends 2010 is a required read for anyone interested in the clean energy sector. The highlight is the report’s five top trends, which are beyond the scope of this article but are worth pointing out (and exploring further):

1. Carbon as a Feedstock: Win-Win or Pipe Dream?
2. Steep Drop in Photovaltaic-technology Price Drives Solar
3. Biomass Fires up Utilities and District Heating
4. Clean-Tech Megaprojects See Big Advances - and Big Challenges
5. High Speed Rail Surges Ahead – But at What Cost?

(Image: Wikipedia)

The number of smart grids will grow to 212 million in 2012, up from 2009’s total of 76 million, according to ABI.

Driving this growth in the U.S. is the recently granted stimulus funds that are going towards smart-grid projects.

“In the US, $3.4 billion in federal economic stimulus funding was directed to smart grid development in November 2009,” said ABI practice director Sam Lucero.

“The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) directly encourages smart grid technology adoption by the states, and funds NIST’s efforts to develop a standards-based technology framework to facilitate smart grid adoption,” Lucero said.

The U.S. stimulus program will create 18 million new smart meters, bringing the total up to 40 million, which will cover 31 percent of the nation’s housing units. When complete, this project is expected to reduce energy demand by 1,400 megawatts and increase the use of renewable resources by 20 percent in 2020.

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The Purdue Research Foundation and Oxygen Education LLC have teamed up to offer online green technology training. Green Generalist Training is designed to provide educational institutions, business, industry and workforce development initiatives to provide training in green IT.

“Making Green Generalist Training available online to the public will provide the opportunity to learn about green technology, global sustainability and the associated cost-cutting practices,” said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation.

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Yesterday, the Sustainability Consortium received a major pledge of support from technology companies. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Toshiba, Intel, and Best Buy are now planning on working with the organization to help define the term "green" for electronics. This diversifies the founding members, who include P&G, Dell, SC Johnson, Disney and Waste Management.

The Sustainability Consortium was launched in July 2008 as part of an initiative by Wal-Mart, who began surveying suppliers in order to eventually rate the sustainability of their products.The SC consists of academics and others with the agenda of "establishing the scientific standards to measure the sustainability of consumer products," states the introduction to an introductory webinar the group gave in 2009.

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Greenpeace gave out its latest green electronics grades at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, releasing the latest “Guide to Greener Electronics.”

Receiving top marks was Nokia; grading out the worst was Nintendo.

Nokia received its high mark of 7.3, even though it dropped a point for failing to lobby for the revised RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electronics) directive. Other than this, the Finnish mobile company got good scores on toxics use reduction.

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You should never use a quote for a lede, but this one warrants it:

“Many consumers in the US are prepared to help the environment by recycling their old handsets, but only if there is a financial incentive to do so. Virtue is not seen as its own reward in this case. Operators wishing to present a ‘green’ public face – and [our] survey’s results also show that consumers increasingly favor those that do – should factor these attitudes into their recycling schemes.”

Let’s unpack that disheartening quote from ABI Research analyst Michael Morgan. Consumers want companies to be green, even if they themselves won’t do something that promotes sustainability unless they receive financial incentive? What, the most desirable ethics are the ones you can buy, that you don’t actually have to do anything to claim?

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Every day in the U.S., 130,000 computers are discarded.

About 85 percent of discarded computer components were left in landfills or incinerated in 2007, according to the EPA. Electronic devices, which make up 2 percent of the world’s solid waste stream and potentially emit more than 1,000 toxic substances, are the fastest growing source of waste in the world.

Moore’s Law makes technology obsolete at an astounding rate – the average life of a computer is now just over 2 years. A challenge to manufacturers and designers is how to make components that won’t add to the waste stream.

One possible – and stylish – solution to the difficulties in recycling computers is presented by designer Je Sung Park’s paper laptop.

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This week, President Obama awarded $3.4 billion in stimulus grants to 100 smart grid projects in 45 states.

To track how the stimulus money is being spent, SmartGridNews.com and green-IT company Telvent have launched the Stimulus Channel.

The Stimulus Channel works like other stimulus-reporting sites, showing where the money is being spent and how projects are progressing.

It also aggregates local news about the projects, offers stimulus toolkits for every state as well as summaries of state energy projects and awards.

The Department of Energy predicts that the stimulus grants will create 18 million new smart meters, bringing the total up to 40 million, which will cover 31 percent of the nation’s housing units.

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Cleantech investments continue to rebound, rising 10 percent in Q3 2009 over the previous quarter.

While the continued recovery is a good sign, cleantech investments are still down 42 percent year-over-year, according to the CleanTech group and Deloitte.

“Clean tech continues its recovery despite the lowest level of venture capital investment overall since 1997,” Dallas Kachan, Cleantech Group’s managing director said in the LA Times.

Globally, cleantech is now the number one recipient of VC funding.

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A new study by The CleanTech Group reinforces the argument that e-readers are ultimately more eco-friendly than print.

The production of one e-reader is the equivalent of the production of 22.5 paper books.

CleanTech predicts that e-readers will save 9.9 billion kg of CO2 over the next 3 years, when e-reader sales are expected to reach 14.4. In 2012, CleanTech predicts, e-readers will save 5.3 billion kg of CO2.

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