Energy efficiency expected to gain prominence across industries

The early part of 2009 may see renewable energy projects suffer because of the death of debt financing, but such projects are expected pick up in the latter part of the year due to anticipated government support in form of affirmative policy and tax credits,

By Control Engineering Staff January 16, 2009

Singapore– Industry trends show a continued see a focus on efficiency and fuel savings due to a sluggish economy and history of high electricity prices, according to Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific director of energy & power systems practice Ravi Krishnaswamy. As a result, he predicts that products from light bulbs to turbines with energy efficient features will be in demand.”Currently, low oil prices will be a challenge to justify some green energy investments but the situation will change in the not too distant future,” Krishnaswamy said. “Newly elected US President Barack Obama’s final policy on climate change and Kyoto Protocol will affect the energy & power sector globally,” he adds.According to Krishnaswamy, the early part of 2009 may see renewable energy projects suffer because of the death of debt financing brought on by troubles at large green energy investors like Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, AIG, and Merrill Lynch. However, he expects such projects to pick up in the latter part of the year, due to anticipated government support in form of affirmative policy and tax credits, making alternate energy one of the few growth sectors in 2009.”Energy efficiency will continue to gain prominence across the end user sectors of industrial, commercial, and residential. Governments are likely to support these measures because of avoided cost of asset creation in new generation capacity and also proven benefit in terms of emission reduction,” he added.Other areas that may continue to show growth include alternate energy technologies such as solar and fuel cells, metals like lithium and zinc used in the development of energy storage technologies, clean coal research as a result of carbon tax by the new U.S. administration, and the biomass and waste to energy sector.For more information, visit www.frost.com Control Engineering News Desk Register here .