2012 proved to be an unsettling and difficult year for clean
energy. High-profile bankruptcies and layoffs plagued many
clean-tech companies, overall venture investments retreated in
the face of increasingly elusive returns, and the industry was
begrudgingly transformed into a partisan wedge issue during the
U.S. presidential campaign. But as we highlight in our just-
released Clean Energy Trends 2013 report, the fundamental global
market drivers for clean technology remain largely intact.
Intensifying resource constraints loom large. Unprecedented
climate disruption in the U.S. and abroad is putting resiliency
and adaptation front and center. And President Obama has
signaled a strong commitment to expanding clean energy and
energy efficiency in his second term, calling for another
doubling of renewable power by 2020. Similar commitments exist
in China, Japan, and the European Union. The report found that
lower prices for many clean-tech goods and services, combined
with a renewed focus on scalable projects, r