The worldwide economic crisis of 2008 has forced many business leaders across the world to revise their business strategies, devising clear-cut, long term goals instead of sticking to short term goals with improper plans that had proved to be disastrous for them in the past. The crisis has also prompted these leaders to look out for growth plans that involve sustainable energy sources that could help a business prosper without causing harm to the environment in the process. Here is a useful insight into how green energy is able to promote business development.
Also called as clean or sustainable energy, green energy is considered as an essentially resource to keep a business running without causing significant harm to the surroundings. Some of the more common sources of green energy include solar, water, wind and biomass etc. Unlike other forms of energy like petroleum, green energy does not cause any environmental issues and would be considered as an excellent way to power the entire world in the next few years.
American President Barrack Obama has in fact, mentioned the manifold advantages of using green energy (what he calls ‘clean technology’) in the near future. The growth prospects of green energy were also mentioned by the UN Secretary General, Bak Ki-Moon, who claimed that the use of green energy would definitely help create several business and employment opportunities in several fields.
In contrast to speculations that existing as well as potential investors are not that interested in green energy projects, more investors nowadays are opting for green energy projects. This shift in interests may be attributed to incidents like the political unrest in the Middle East caused by increasing petroleum prices, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
The amount of money invested in green energy projects has risen steadily to over $268 billion in 2012 from $240 billion in 2010. Most of these interests are focused on solar and wind energy, with plenty of research and development going into the creation of low cost and more effective solar panels, enhanced supply chain and improved turbine technology to be used in windmills.
Another green energy resource happens to be geothermal energy which uses heat that is generated from the earth’s core, and is used to generate steam which is in turn, used to generate power for windmills and turbines.
Biomass energy is yet another form of green energy that is derived from plants, with corn and sugar cane being the most important resources of this energy. Derived from vegetable and cooking oils, biodiesel is another form of green energy that is steadily attracting more and more investors.
Before the economic crisis of 2008, there was a 10% increase in the number of job initiatives created by various green energy projects, meaning that in the coming years, one can expect more employment opportunities from this sector, including several jobs in areas like the manufacture, installation and distribution of solar panels and wind turbines etc.
