Clean technologies will inevitably be in demand. Countries that suitably upskill and build industries to manufacture it will benefit greatly. They can obtain access to worldwide markets and build profit from the export of clean technologies.
Over the last ten years, there has been enormous investment in renewable energy, as well as substantial technological improvement. The development of solar cells and wind turbines sprinkled throughout the landscape is proof of this. But it can also be measured by looking at trends in the number of published patent applications.
Pollution is no longer just an annoying by-product that causes environmental damage; it is also a fundamental challenge to India's growth and development. It will have a significant economic impact if it is not treated seriously and contained.
To put these figures in context, WIPO published 237,378 PCT applications across all technologies in 2018 pdf, implying that the fraction of patents for renewables was little over 1%. This is insignificant when compared to fields like computer technology, digital communication, medical technology, and pharmaceuticals, which each account for at least 6% of global applications.
Although the overall trend is one of growth, the number of published international patent applications for wind energy has fluctuated significantly. In 2019, they accounted for 28% of all renewable energy publications. International patent applications for geothermal energy, on the other hand, accounted for only 1.4 percent of those published in the sector.
When it comes to patent families, China is unquestionably the best. For example, counting whole patent families from 2013 to 2017, China has more than 45,000 patents, more than twice the amount of patents from Japan, which was ranked second with more than 21,000. Solar technology is driving the surge, with Chinese applicants holding three times the amount of patents as Japanese applicants.
There have been some major technological developments in renewable energy recently as well. According to an IEEE report, liquid air could be used to store renewable energy and reduce food industry emissions. According to a 2018 research by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), renewable energy will need to supply between 70 and 85 percent of electricity by 2050 to fulfil the 1.5°C target.
A group of European researchers and entrepreneurs is working on a cryogenic energy storage device that might help cut carbon emissions from the food industry while also providing a handy way to store wind and solar energy.
According to a claim by experts, a novel thermoelectric gadget can generate electricity for an LED light bulb even on the darkest night.