According to a report mentioned on Sustainable Life Media, there is tremendous growth in the clean energy field. From their site -

“Global markets for biofuels, wind power, solar photovoltaics, and fuel cells jumped 40% last year to a total of $77.3 billion. If the current growth rates continue, these four key sectors are expected to more than triple over the next ten years to a total of $254.5 billion by 2017, according to a new report from research firm Clean Edge.

Biofuels, wind, and solar were the biggest winners, with revenues topping $20 billion each for the first time last year.

One key factor that will continue to boost clean-energy markets in the coming year is the growing interest in green building. Increasingly, residential homes and commercial facilities are being designed and built according to sustainability principles, according to the report.

“Amid last year’s plummeting housing prices, rising foreclosure rates, and record high oil prices, clean energy continued to provide a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish economy,” says Clean Edge co-founder and principal Ron Pernick.

Venture capital investment in clean technologies spiked 43% last year, according Dow Jones VentureSource.”

Download the report here

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Looks like we did it again! The USB batteries that we talked about back in August last year is winning awards left and right! The guys have only been around for one year and are doing great! From their site -

“London, UK, December 7th 2007 – Moixa Energy is pleased to announce that its eco-friendly USBCELL Battery category won the 2007 National Energy Efficiency Awards for consumer products - UK CEED Energy Awards

The prestigious UK CEED Efficiency awards were announced at a ceremony at the London Aquarium sponsored by EDF Energy on Wednesday 5th and celebrate the achievements of technologies, individuals and organizations that can help reduce energy use and combat climate change.

USBCELL Batteries, a British invention announced a year ago, were recognized for their sustainable design that reduces battery landfill waste, resource and C02 waste, and are also more energy efficient to use and re-use compared to alkaline and other rechargeable batteries. They can be re-used anywhere simply by charging from a USB port. Other award winners at the UK CEED event included the Dyson Airblade in the business products category.

Moixa – USBCELL Batteries also recently won the Power/Energy category at the 2007 IET - Innovation in Engineering Awards beating a nuclear power station and a high speed train, the Pocket-Lint Green Gadget of the year, and were a finalist for the PC Pro ‘Environmentalist of the Year’ and commended by Design Week alongside the Ipod Shuffle for best consumer product design. They were also recently given out at the Clinton Global Initiative 2007 in New York, in a gift bag showcasing environmentally friendly products”

Every year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honors Green Power Partners that commit to buying renewable such as a solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydro. Last week the EPA honored 17 companies that buy a combined total of almost 4 billion kilowatt hours of green power each year. The Green Power Partners of the year are Whole Foods Market, Wells Fargo and Co., Staples, PepsiCo., Mohawk Fine Paper, Johnson and Johnson, and the City of Bellingham, WA.

Other winners;

Timberland Co., Macy’s West Division, and the City of Chico, CA all won for on-site generation. Kohl’s, PepsiAmericas Inc., Pepsi Bottling Group Inc., Pepsi Bottling Ventures, New York

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LEED in China?

GreenBiz is the source for this very cool article about a green building initiative in China - yes, China.

“Under a program called the Urban Sustainability Initiative, U.C. Berkeley has been working in China, researching technologies and design of sustainable communities to make the EcoBlock a reality, first as a portotype, but soon to spread across China. A hugely collaborative effort involving an interdisciplinary team put together by the College of Environmental Design at Berkeley, the Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute and the Gordon Moore Foundation, the team has been working to integrate the best of clean technologies into the decision-making processes of urban areas throughout the developing world. In 2006, U.C. representatives met with officials from central and local governments in China to identify a site suitable for development of an EcoBlock prototype and settled on Qingdao, a 600-unit building that will be replicated eight and a half times across 23 hectare (56 acre) plot of land.”

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