Clean technology is a somewhat ambiguous term but one heard more and more often today. According to Clean Edge, a research firm specializing in the study of this sector, clean technology refers to a diverse range of products, services, and processes that make use of renewable materials and energy, strive to use fewer natural resources, and to reduce emissions and wastes in both the process of their production and their use. Such companies may be in fields like renewable energy, electric motors, green chemistry, water use management, public transportation, sustainable agriculture, and areas of information technology specifically aimed at helping to reduce or eliminate emissions and waste in any number of processes.

Today’s market size is the amount invested by venture capital firms around the world in clean technology endeavors. The amounts for both 2011 and 2012 are shown. Clear from these data is that investment in such endeavors fluctuates greatly from year to year, despite the seeming relentless admiration for such clean technologies in the media at large. The New York Times article from which this market size comes (a link to which is provided below) tells an interesting story about how one company is using niche market products to help bridge the gap between proof of concept and small scale production to high volume production, a gap often referred to in the industry as Death Valley.

Geographic reference: World
Year: 2011 and 2012
Market size: $9.6 billion and $7.4 billion respectively
Source: Diane Cardwell, “A Side Trip on the Road to Clean Fuel,” The New York Times, June 23, 2013, page B1, and available online here.
Original Source: Cleantech Group’s i3 Platform
Posted on June 24, 2013