Germany, the US and South Korea are on the forefront of developing innovations in waste minimization and upcycling, according to an analysis by Frost & Sullivan.The analysis, "National Innovation Ecosystems (Healthcare, CMF, Energy)," forecasts that these innovations will drive adoption of waste-to-energy technologies such as pyrolysis, waste gasification and anaerobic digestion in the near future.
Frost & Sullivan also predicts continued development in desalination technologies in the fields of carbon fiber, graphene membranes, aquaporins, capacitive deionisation and solar desalination.
Several energy-related innovations are also underway as government support for sustainable energy grows through incentives and other schemes such as cap-and-trade. Frost & Sullivan recommends that the governments of Germany, US and South Korea continue to offer extensive state and regional funding to spur these innovation.
"This will enable them to maintain a strong innovation ecosystem that serves to consolidate economic development initiatives," says Aarthu Janakiraman, a technical insights industry analyst with Frost & Sullivan.
While Germany, US and South Korea are building robust innovation ecosystems in energy and environment sectors — as well as healthcare and materials and coating — stakeholders such as public and private organizations should also work with technology providers to plan, design, implement and support technologies that can help create smart solutions for everyday life, the analysis says.
Environmental XPRT released a forecast in March predicting the global biogas market would continue to grow with Europe maintaining its leading position thanks to technology and favorable feed-in tariffs. Germany leads that market with 8,700 biogas-producing digesters, followed by Italy and Switzerland.
A study by BCC Research released in February estimates the global market for anaerobic digesters and landfill gas equipment reached nearly $4.5 billion in 2013. The study forecast the market will grow more than 55 percent to $7 billion by 2018, and register a five-year compound annual growth rate of 9.4 percent.
Renewable, sustainable energy generation is expected to be the fastest-growing energy sector over the next two decades, the BCC study says.
