Other Clean Tech

While the term “Clean Tech” was coined only about a few years ago, the sector it describes already generates approx. $200 billion a year. The global market for cleantech products and services is approx. $300 billion, projected to grow to over $1.3 trillion in 2017, an annual growth exceeding 15% for a period of 10 years.

Universities, national laboratories, and the commercial sector (both national and international businesses) continue to increase investment in clean technologies for air pollution control, vehicle power, industrial and residential power, environmental remediation, and many other applications.

Governments around the globe have identified cleantech as both a key economic driver in the next century and as a social and moral responsibility. The Kyoto Protocol and related international agreements have driven governments to enact far-reaching legislation to support and expand the use of green and clean technologies, from automotive engines to electricity production and air pollution. The European Union tends to lead the world in terms of regulatory oversight in this area, but the United States and Japan are also very active. As a rapidly emerging economy, China has a particular need to engage cleantech, but is lagging in terms of governmental oversight, basic R&D, and commercial development.

UN negotiations are now gathering pace in advance of key meetings planned for the end of 2009 and 2010, starting with Copenhagen.

SwitchingGears brings investors, sometimes through our Green Machine Fund, together with technology startups, project developers, and government entities to make Clean Tech companies and projects more successful.