A good year for Clean Technology

Rather than give you another review of 2006, I’ll stick with a few good pieces by Joel Makower and Jennifer Kho, two people who followed the industry closely during the year.

Highlights from Jennifer’s article, Clean Energy’s Big Year, include:
- Renewed confidence in the industry, seen through the strong and growing investment from institutional and private investors
- Good year for IPOs; capital raised in clean-energy-related IPOs more than doubled, reaching $10.3 billion in 2006, up from $4.3 billion in 2005 and $0.7 billion in 2004
- Silicon shortages continued to weigh on the solar industry, but also led to technical innovations from companies looking to offer alternatives to traditional solar panels
- More ethanol plants drove increased production and ethanol startups saw green from the venture community
- Electric cars made a comeback

Joel digs through more than 500 articles to come up with a thorough list of the year’s Top Green Business Stories of 2006. He does an excellent job breaking down the year in a way that is easy to digest. Joel starts off with a nice summary,

While a couple of new issues or companies gained traction last year, 2006 did not offer any sea change in how companies are addressing environmental challenges. Rather, the year saw a continuation of existing trends: big companies moving in the right direction, but most having a long, long way to go.

Here’s to moving these companies further down the road in 2007. Time for me to have some drinks. Happy New Year!