• Solar photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and installation) will grow from a $3.5 billion global industry in 2002 to more than $27.5 billion by 2012.
• Wind power will expand from $5.5 billion in 2002 to approximately $49 billion in 2012.
• And fuel cells for mobile, stationary, and portable applications will grow from $500 million to $12.5 billion over the next decade.
• Solar photovoltaics (PV), wind energy, and fuel cells will expand from a $9.5 billion market today to $89 billion by 2012.

From a report to council regarding the effects of Peak Oil on the municipality - "Given the likelihood of such high prices, energy use and produciton could become the organizing principle of the City's strategic planning, particularly for land use, transport, and economic development. Land uses would be arranged so as to strike blances between maximizing energy production--e.g., from solar arrays--and minimizing in-building energy use and associated energy use for tansport. The movement of people and goods would be guided towards use of radically less energy and towards being powered more by electricity than by fossil fuels.

In engaging in planning of various kinds, the City of Hamilton is exercising one of its principal roles: that of a community builder that seeks to sustain the economic, social, and environmental welfare of Hamilton's residents and businesses. The City has another relevant role: providing services many of which consume fossil and other fuels."

These eight principles prepared for EXPO 2000, The World's Fair, Hannover Germany by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, form the basis of Cradle-to-Cradle design.

1. Insist on rights of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition.
2. Recognize interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend upon the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.
3. Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.
4. Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist.
5. Create safe objects of long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance of vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creation of products, processes or standards.
6. Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems, in which there is no waste.
7. Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate the energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.
8. Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not and inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.
9. Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.

Heating a given amount of water with solar-thermal collectors results in a Footprint 100 times smaller than heating with fossil energy.

The ability to over-exploit the earth's stored-up supply of resources is what we call economic progress. One statistic makes clear the demand placed on the earth by our economic system: every day the worldwide economy burns an amount of energy the planet required 10,000 days to create. Or put another way, 27 years worth of stored solar energy is burned and released by utilities, cars, houses, factories, and farms every 24 hours.

In California, the power regulatory authority is more enlightened than most. It calculated how much cheaper it was to save megawatts than to create new megawatts. If every household in California replaced four incandescent lightbulbs (average 100 watts) with fluorescent lightbulbs (average 27 watts) burning five hours per day, it would save 22 million kilowatts hours per day enough to shut down 17 power plants. Even more efficient are the new white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) that enable us to see at night. If every household in California replaced one average-flow showerhead with an energy-saving showerhead, it would be equivalent to closing another 15 plants. If every household installed a solar-power hotwater heater, it could shut down another 67 power stations,¹⁸ and if the state paid for the lightbulbs, showerheads and solar panels, it would cost much less than building one new power station.~ 18 - Figures from Solar Living Sourcebook, which sells these products.

Nearly two in three Chief Executive Officers of American small and medium-sized businesses expressed concern about the prospects of global warming, according to latest Vistage Confidence Index, a quarterly measure of economic, market and industry trends.

• All but 4 U.S. states now have incentives in place to promote renewable energy.
• California gets 31% of its electricity from renewable resources, including wind and geothermal energy.
• Annual global investment in new renewable energy has risen six-fold since 1995.
• Total investment in this area has been nearly $US180 billion.
• Since 2000, wind generation has more than tripled, increasing now at 24% per annum.
• Solar cell production has risen six-fold, increasing today at the rate of 45% per annum.
• Renewable energy creates more jobs per unit of energy produced and per dollar spent than do fossil fuel technologies.
• Nearly 80% of the world's energy use comes from fossil fuels.
• In 2005, average atmospheric CO2 concentration increased 0.6%, the largest annual increase ever recorded.
• 2005 was the warmest year ever recorded on the Earth's surface.
• Use of fossil fuels continues to increase.

The government's current goal is to produce sufficient biofuel substitute for a mere 3-5% of our petroleum-based liquid fuel needs. Having invested some hundreds of millions in that endeavour, the pressure will then be on to increase the use of biodiesel and ethanol, and new sources of these products will have to found. But where could substantial new resources be found in New Zealand? If we follow the overseas lead of North America, the EU and South America, then the next readily available source of bio-energy will be our food crops. In those countries they use their sugar beet and sugar cane; they use soy and canola and palm oil; and they use corn (maize) and wheat and barley. In the temperate North American and European areas, production is heavily subsidised, as they are trying to reduce their dependency on Middle-Eastern oil. Even so, they cannot locally produce enough bio-oils, not even the 5% that is their goal, so they are heavily increasing their imports of plantation oils (palm and coconut oils) from tropical countries, where solar energy sustains plant growth at a far higher rate.