Top 10 Green-Tech Breakthroughs of 2008

There's trouble on the horizon. The economy is hovering somewhere between catatonic and hebephrenic, and funding for the big plans that green tech companies laid in 2008 might be a lot harder to come by in 2009. Recessions haven't always been the best times for environmentally friendly technologies as consumers and corporations cut discretionary spending on ethical premiums.

Still, green technology and its attendant infrastructure are probably the best bet to drag the American economy out of the doldrums. - WIRED

NVDL: Since investment banking has recently died with the death of global credit, and thanks to the double-whammy drop in energy prices, alternative industries that are not currently operating will struggle to evovle.

clipped from blog.wired.com 10. THE ISLAND OF THE SOLAR 9. NEW MATERIALS CAGE CARBON 8. GREEN TECH LEGISLATION GETS REAL 7. THE CATALYST THAT COULD ENABLE SOLAR In July, MIT chemist Daniel Nocera announced that he'd created a catalyst that could drop the cost of extracting the hydrogen and oxygen from water. 6. PICKENS PLAN PUSHES POWER PLAYS INTO AMERICAN MAINSTREAM 5. SOLAR THERMAL PLANTS RETURN TO THE DESERTS 4. OBAMA PICKS A GREEN TECH EXPERT TO HEAD DOE President-elect Barack Obama ran on the promise of green jobs and an economic stimulus package that would provide support for scientific innovation. Then, Obama picked Steven Chu, a Nobel-prize winning physicist, to head the Department of Energy. Chu had been focused on turning Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory into an alternative-energy powerhouse. The green tech community rejoiced that one of their own would be in the White House. 3. SOLAR CELL PRODUCTION GETS BIG, GIGA(WATT)BIG 2. PROJECT BETTER PLACE FINDS HOMES 1. CALERA'S GREEN CEMENT DEMO PLANT OPENS