Business Week: The State of Green
Talk to the pioneers of green technology and they'll tell you these days they spend less time hard-selling the allure of renewable energy, and more hours managing shortages of materials, labor, and manufacturing capacity. Instead of evangelizing new markets, their focus has shifted to the practical: how to build new plants while driving down costs to make their products and services more competitive.
After all, you do get some headaches when your business starts to contribute to the economy in a meaningful way. In the U.S., the renewable-energy and energy-efficiency industries generated nearly $1 trillion in revenues last year and employed some 8.5 million workers, according to a July, 2007, study by Management Information Services, a Washington, D.C., consultancy.
Those numbers are growing by the megawatt. There has been no letup in the stream of new eco-focused companies, products, and technologies coming out of labs and garages around the world. The green sector continues to incubate new entrants faster than ever. Through the first half of 2007, venture capitalists poured $1.9 billion into U.S. and European startups, 10% ahead of the same period in 2006, a record year, says Nicholas Parker, chairman of the Cleantech Network, which tracks alternative energy.
New energy technologies, particularly in solar and biofuels, remain the most popular fields, attracting more than $1 billion for new ventures so far this year. But the latest hot spot, says Parker, is Energy Infotech, software used to find and eliminate waste in everything from lighting systems and manufacturing operations to utility grids. What follows is a look at some green sectors and the challenges companies in these areas face. ....
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