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What Industries Are Included in Cleantech?

By Carol McClelland

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 01Jun2009 Word count: 849 Viewed: 224 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

People often talk about cleantech as though it is an industry, it is actually a meta-industry that serves as an umbrella over a wide variety of industries.

If you want to work in energy efficiency, green building, renewable energy or a host of other green careers, then having an understanding of the term clean tech will be very helpful.

Saying you want a job in cleantech isn't enough. You have to be more specific about your career goal when you talk with contacts in your network.

As you'll see, Cleantech is a wide-ranging landscape! As you explore these lists of industries within Cleantech, notice which ones catch and hold your attention.

The Cleantech Group has divided their investment reporting into eleven segments, categorizing a variety of industries under each category. For the full list of cleantech segments, visit the Cleantech Group site. ((http://cleantech.com/about/cleantechdefinition.cfm))

- Energy Generation - from wind and solar to hydro/marine, biofuels, and geothermal

- Energy Storage - from fuel cells and advance batteries to hybrid systems

- Energy Infrastructure - from transmission to energy management

- Energy Efficiency - from lighting and glass to building efficiency

- Transportation - from vehicles and fuel to logistics and infrastructure

- Water & Wastewater - from water treatment and conservation to wastewater treatment

- Air & Environment - from clean up, emissions control and monitoring to trading and offsets.

- Materials - from nanotech and bio materials to chemically based materials

- Manufacturing/Industrial - from production to packaging

- Agriculture - from land management and natural pesticides to aquaculture

- Recycling & Waste Treatment

Each group uses a slightly different list to define cleantech. Here are few more industries that aren't specifically listed in the Cleantech Group list, but are referred to as cleantech by others.

- Biomass

- Information technology (IT)

- Electric motors

- Water filtration

- Personal transportation

- Smart grid

- Mobile applications

- Green building

- Hydrogen

A Look into the Future of Cleantech

Although the current economic downturn is impacting nearly all sectors of the economy, Cleantech ventures are still obtaining funding. Some are even expanding in anticipation of growth as a result of the stimulus package passed earlier this year.

Pernick and Wilder, authors of the Clean Tech Revolution, described six major forces, which they call the six C's, that are pushing clean technology into the mainstream and driving rapid growth and expansion. It is likely these factors will continue to shape cleantech.

- Costs. The simple economics of fossil fuel energy "Perhaps the most powerful force driving today's clean-tech growth is simple economics. As a general trend, clean-energy costs are falling as the costs of fossil fuel energy are going up. The future of clean tech is going to be, in many ways, about scaling up manufacturing and driving down costs." (Although this motivation has slipped a bit as traditional fuel costs have dropped, most experts believe we'll be seeing high fuel costs again.)

- Capital. Investments in cleantech ventures around the world continue.

- Competition. A number of countries and regions are competing to dominate the cleantech sector. The competition is bound to drive the growth.

- China. China and other developing countries such as India are requiring more and more energy. Their economic growth is driving growth in a variety of cleantech industries such as clean energy, water delivery, transportation, and building.

- Consumers. Consumers are becoming more and more knowledgeable and demanding cleaner and greener products.

- Climate. Climate change is now an integral part of business strategy in many cleantech companies. With all these factors coming together at this time, cleantech is bound to be a transformative force in our economy for some time to come.

Breaking into Cleantech

One of the keys to breaking into Cleantech is to look at the skills, experience, and contacts you've developed in your current/last career. Is there a way to use your skills, experience, and contacts to transition into one of these new, growing fields?

- Think about the problems you solved for your last employer. Could one of these industries be facing a similar problem or challenge?

- Think about the network you've developed in your current/last profession. Is this network of interest to any of the industries within cleantech. Are any companies trying to reach out to your industry/profession? Do any of these industries need help from your network to succeed in breaking into a new market?

- Think about the processes, procedures, and systems you've used or developed in your current/former career. Do any of these systems transfer into a cleantech industry?

To answer these questions you are going to need to do your homework! Immerse yourself into the slice of cleantech that is the best fit for you. You need to learn as much as you can about the industry to understand where you fit in and how you can use your skills, experience, and network as assets to propel you into the industry.

Opportunities are out there and they'll keep coming as this sector continues to grow.

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