Cleantech Investor

First published in Cleantech magazine 2011 Issue 3. Copyright Cleantech Investor Ltd

Our recent reputation management seminar, organised in partnership with Hotwire PR, highlighted the fact that – within cleantech – the expectations of the market, and certainly of the consumer, are being mismanaged. Over and above concerns about the impact of climate change, the pressures of a growing population, energy security and resource scarcity are driving cleantech markets around the world.  Increases in the prices of commodities, from food to electricity, will bring about a fundamental shift in the way in which economies work and a need to decouple economic growth from consumption. Associated cost rises – combined with legislation addressing climate risk, emissions and environmental damage – are driving that shift.

First published in Cleantech magazine, February 2011. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2011

Whether we’re talking big (large scale deployment of offshore wind, the shift of the electricity transmission grid from dumb to smart, the deployment of a national charging infrastructure for electric vehicles) or small  (increasingly efficient boilers in the home, for example), the low carbon transition is going to be expensive. The UK faces a £200 billion cost for energy alone, while the figure for the EU could be as high as €2.9 trillion. All this at a time when the public wallet is facing serious economic constraints.