There’s something deeply, deeply impressive about the number one trillion, don’t you think? Something a bit Buck Rogers; ‘a trillion light years away…’. It’s a number that seems more at home when applied to the number of cells in the human body, and somewhat incredible when actually applied to cold hard cash.

The Japanese aren’t shying away from bandying around multiples of trillion this week, with the news that the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry wants to grow the country’s environmental business sector to 83 trillion yen by 2015. That’s a lot of trillions.

According to The Yomiuri Shimbun, the ministry is aiming to take eco-tech into the mainstream and big up green businesses.

The ministry believes the domestic market for businesses involved in tackling global warming could grow by 54 percent to 49 trillion yen by 2015 from the 2005 level.With this in mind, the government expects a jump in demand for energy-saving technologies that help cut greenhouse gas emissions, as well as increased demand for natural energy such as solar power.[...]

The ministry believes the number of jobs in environment-focused businesses will increase 45 percent over the period to 2.6 million.