Greenbang hasn’t been shy in the past at bringing you numbers – predictions on how much money has been pouring, like a healthy papery tide, into green energy. But the cynics among you may have been saying “ah, but how much revenue is there?” and tapping your nose knowingly.

Well handily, there’s people out there to answer that very same question. (let’s face it, it wouldn’t be much of an article if there weren’t). So, the people stepping up to the plate are… research firm Clean Edge. And here’s what they’ve got to say on the matter:

Revenues in the big four of renewable – biofuels, wind power, solar photovoltaics, and fuel cells – shot up 40 percent from $55 billion in 2006 to $77.3 billion in 2007 and they’re expected to jump to $254.5 billion by 2017. Apparently, Clean Edge says that for the first time, three of those energy sectors are generating revenue in excess of $20 billion apiece, with wind now exceeding $30 billion.

Here’s some more highlights from the Clean Edge report:

Biofuels (global production and wholesale pricing of ethanol and biodiesel) reached $25.4 billion in 2007 and are projected to grow to $81.1 billion by 2017. In 2007 the global biofuels market consisted of more than 13 billion gallons of ethanol and 2 billion gallons of biodiesel production worldwide.

Wind power (new installation capital costs) is projected to expand from $30.1 billion in 2007 to $83.4 billion in 2017. Last year’s global wind power installations reached a record 20,000 MW, equivalent to 20 large-size 1 GW conventional power plants.

Solar photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and installation) will grow from a $20.3 billion industry in 2007 to $74 billion by 2017. Annual installations were just shy of 3 GW worldwide, up nearly 500 percent from just four years earlier.

The fuel cell and distributed hydrogen market will grow from a $1.5 billion industry (primarily for research contracts and demonstration and test units) to $16 billion over the next decade.

Together, we project these four benchmark technologies, which equaled $55.4 billion in 2006 and expanded 40 percent to $77.3 billion in 2007, to grow to $254.5 billion within a decade.

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• HP to double renewable energy use
• EnOcean harvests €4.5m for green sensors
• NYC gets turbines on skyscrapers – or does it?
• $40m for absolutely Trilliant smart grids
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