Global Renewable Energy Investing
Germany, China and the United States were the three leading investors in 2007 with their investment money spent on wind, solar and solar hot water. They had spent 47% of their money on wind, 30% on PV and 9% on solar hot water.
Germany had spent $14 billion, coming in a very close third and fourth is Spain and Japan, when it came to global renewable energy.
China has spent $12 billion and the United States has spent $10 billion all on renewable energy sources. In 2006 they spent a total of $71 billion but now that number climbed to over $100 billion, due to the amount of money spent on the plants and equipment to manufacture solar and biofuel. They had spent $10 billion in equipment for manufacturing, $4 billion in the production of biofuel, $16 billion in research development and anywhere between $15 and $20 billion for the large hydro power plants. There are more and more markets capturing the green investment money and expanding their capacities.
The market trends
As of 2007, renewable energy accounts for at least 6% of the total global capacity, with it increasing at a steady rate. There are 70 countries that have wind capacity and even more that are continuing to join. There are a lot of offshore projects that are currently underway in the United States and Europe. There will be more and more growth that will be centered in Germany, Japan, Spain, Italy, South Korea, California and New Jersey, as well as France. In 2006 is when the first thermal plants began operating and are expected to experience long-term growth.
Where is the Green Industry going?
There are over 2.4 million green jobs in the world today. This increasing number of jobs is due in large part to the increase in the number of renewable energy plants across the world. There market caps of companies are also growing to more than 135 companies with a cap of approximately $100 billion. In 2005 there were about half that many companies in operation. In the short run everything is focused on solar, wind and geothermal.
In the longer term everything is focused more on the exciting opportunity where the smart grid comes to fruition. Down the road, in the next four years, there will be second and third generation biofuels. These second and third biofuels will include algae and cellulosic. They will also have such thing as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and new solar technologies like CIGS. There will also be a complete transformation of the global water infrastructure. This is a time of growth and if you invest in the right companies there will be a fortune to be made in the 21st century.