SEATTLE, Nov. 13 – Recent growth in renewable energy markets is the early part of a sustained scale-up that will lead to business volumes tenfold greater than today, American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) President Michael Eckhart told attendees at a clean tech investing conference in Seattle.
 
“The growth of renewable energy means jobs and economic growth in every Congressional district,” said Mr. Eckhart November 8 at the Cleantech Investing on the Pacific Northwest conference hosted by the Stoel Rives law firm and Nth Power venture capital firm.  “And members of Congress are beginning to see it. The major job creators in Germany in the past three years have been the wind and solar industries.  We can have those jobs, too.”

The global renewable energy industry is receiving third-party capital investment of approximately $100 billion in 2007, according to New Energy Finance.  The level of venture capital funding has increased more than tenfold since the year 2000, according to Clean Edge.  Eckhart said the current boom in investment and financing is as a trend, not a bubble.

“The U.S. is leading in technology, but is losing the race for manufacturing leadership in these technologies,” said Mr. Eckhart, “We need to regain our leadership and the economic gains and jobs that come with it.”

Renewable energy is part of a holistic solution set on climate change.  “President Bush has called for voluntary action on climate, focusing on new technology.  Alan Greenspan recently said in a moderated discussion about climate change that society has only two options: either constrain economic growth, or accelerate technology change.  ACORE agrees – this is about accelerating technology change, and renewable energy technologies are the centerpiece of President Bush’s proposition and Alan Greenspan’s vision.”

The Congress is also a key player, setting the rules and establishing the incentives for change Mr. Eckhart said:  “We elect Congress to move the country forward, not entrench the past, and we believe they will.  Renewable energy offers too much in the way of economic growth, Wall Street investments, Main Street jobs, and a better environment and health for all of us to do anything less.”