In the United States, the Department of Energy estimates that domestic energy consumption will rise by one third between 2001 and 2025. In developing countries, consumption is expected to grow even faster - more than quadrupling current use by 2025.  

This growth in energy consumption will continue to drive new investments in power generation, and transmission and distribution infrastructure. Energy efficiency is also becoming a significant corporate capital expenditure, given that it is always cheaper to save a watt than consume a less-expensive watt. Sensors and remote monitors will continue to provide quick cash-flow paybacks, for diverse uses in areas such as manufacturing, energy distribution and energy generation. 
 
Fossil fuels remain the largest source of energy production, but because of several factors including natural resource constraints (e.g. Saudi Arabia’s largest oil fields cannot economically extract more barrels of oil/day) and geopolitical considerations, a significant portion of new power generation is expected to come from renewable and other clean energy technologies. The growth in renewables is evident in the US, where the installed capacity of wind projects went from 1,890MW to 9,971MW, between 1998 and June of 2006, with major corporations such as GE and BP having entered the market.

These clean energy generation technologies (renewables, fuel cells, microturbines) currently total a $39.9 billion market, and are expected to grow to a $167.2 billion global market by 2015. Technologies that make it easier and more cost effective to deploy these advanced power technologies will be increasingly.