Europe: No. 1 in Sustainable Energy

Europe: No. 1 in Sustainable Energy
The EC is committed to policies that include subsidies for alternative energy and encourage

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Saving the planet may not seem like the quickest path to riches. Yet plenty of investors are betting that sustainable energy will make them lots of money. Already the sector is fast becoming a multibillion-dollar industry, giving companies the chance to boost their profit margins and help fight climate change at the same time. Taking advantage of this investment revolution, a wave of European firms has pioneered alternative energy technology to help make Europe the world leader in reducing carbon emissions.
The fight against climate change has definitely become big business. According to London-based research firm New Carbon Finance, public and private investment in the global renewable-energy sector will top $90 billion in 2007, a 27% increase over the year before. The U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) says Europe remains the top spot for investment, receiving $27.1 billion in 2006, while the U.S. came in second, with $22.5 billion. An estimated $27.9 billion was set aside last year for financing renewable energy projects around the world, and $18 billion in 180 investment funds is now focused on sustainable energy.
EC Policy Spurs Growth
With so much money floating around, several public and privately held European firms have been quick to pounce on these new opportunities, and the firms now dominate industries such as wind-turbine manufacturing and solar-panel design. With annual sales totaling $737 million, German company Q-Cells has recently finished building the world's largest solar farm in southern Spain, and Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas, with $279 million profits in 2006, has outmaneuvered the likes of General Electric (GE) to become the leading global wind-turbine provider. "The industry is growing both geographically and technologically," says Q-Cells spokesperson Stefan Dietrich. "You have to expand internationally because there are so many new players coming into the market."
At present, wind and solar power remain the most commercially viable technologies, but other firms are looking to cash in on the growing interest in the sector by developing new ways to produce renewable electricity. One such company is Marine Current Turbines (MCT), based in southern England. It has created a machine that harnesses tidal power to produce environmentally friendly energy, and the company expects its first "tidal farm" to come on line by early 2008. According to MCT's technical director Peter Fraenkel, it's now a lot easier to find funding for new technologies. "When we started it was very difficult, but now governments and investors are throwing money at many different projects," he says.