Review: The new wave that is cleantech

cleantech - cleanbuild

Review: The new wave that is cleantech

In the past decade, the cleantech industry has experienced a massive shift, a clear indication that people are becoming more aware of the dangers some of their activities pose to the environment.

Let’s take a look at what cleantech means, how it is impacting the environment and what the future holds for the industry.

Clean technology (cleantech for short) or green tech is made up of innovations that utilize, hasten and improve the use of renewable energy sources which include wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and low-carbon fuels and facilitates energy production from other sources which include heat and sewage.

In other words, it is a series of technologies that either lessen or enhance the use of natural resources and at the same time, decrease the negative effects that technology has on the planet and its ecosystem.

Many technologies use renewable sources of energy and optimize energy usage to reduce dependence on carbon fuels. There are key focuses in the cleantech industry which are:

  • Renewable energy and energy optimization e.g wind power, hydroelectric power, solar energy, geothermal energy, smart energy, and energy reduction.
  • Clean water e.g. water treatment and wastewater treatment
    Pollution reduction e.g. emission control, pollutant monitoring, and remediation of polluted sites
  • Recycling and waste management e.g. recycling of consumer products and reduction and treatment of toxic waste

As a result of the rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and plastic pollution, there have been global campaigns to adopt clean technology solutions.

Countries are adopting regulatory policies that require industry and individuals to reduce their negative impact on the environment. This has resulted in the introduction of voluntary reduction schemes and carbon trading schemes.

In recent times, more clean technologies such as liquid biopsies, deep learning, green vehicles, etc., are emerging. People are now building smarter homes and smarter cities that have nearly zero-energy buildings, solar and wind energy are making major strides, energy-efficient appliances are becoming the new trend, electric vehicles are becoming popular.

Despite the rise of the cleantech industry, it still faces a number of challenges. For one, it needs large capital investments to drive the uptake of efficient and affordable, and clean energy.

With many economically viable and sustainable solutions springing from the cleantech, the sector is positioning itself as an attractive investment option.

The world needs to change the way it creates and consumes energy and from all indications, it is on this hill that the cleantech industry is willing to bet on.

Related Post