Commercial energy technology is contributing significantly to the U.S. economy, with $132 billion in revenue in 2011 and an estimated 19% growth rate in 2012, according to the first-ever analysis of the advanced energy sector.

The Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) organization’s new report, “Economic Impacts of Advanced Energy, was commissioned by the Advanced Energy Economy Institute and produced by Navigant’s Pike Research. “Advanced energy” is defined as the “best available commercial technologies for meeting energy needs today and tomorrow.”

“Advanced energy is what happens when energy meets 21st century technologies,” said AEE CEO Graham Richard. “This report defines precisely, for the first time, the size, breadth and scope of the advanced energy industry. With a $1 trillion global market and a U.S. industry that is already bigger by revenue than trucking, advanced energy is a significant contributor to the economy today and has greater potential for tomorrow.”

The largest estimated jump in U.S. revenue is seen in the transportation segment, whose revenue was seen jumping by 60% from 2011 to an estimated $7 billion last year. The segment’s gains are to be led by “a more than doubling” of “clean” vehicles and “moderate” growth in hybrid vehicles, including those using natural gas.

According to the report, the U.S. market in 2011 added 141 fueling stations for liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas and hydrogen, which represented 10% of the global market value and generated $226.8 million in revenue, AEE said. “Of those installations, 97% were natural gas fueling stations.”

Every state except Hawaii, Iowa and South Dakota “now has a natural gas fueling station; California leads the United States in number of hydrogen fueling stations. The 2012 U.S. market is expected to more than double compared to 2011 (an estimated $502.4 million in revenues) as a result of a rapid increase in the number of natural gas vehicle fueling stations installed.”

Direct, indirect and induced economic activity in 2011 in the U.S. market from advanced technologies added an estimated $145 billion to gross domestic product and generated more than $20 billion in federal, state and local taxes, the study noted. The technologies produced an estimated $1.1 trillion global market in 2011, larger than pharmaceutical manufacturing worldwide.

Global energy consumption is projected to increase nearly 40% by 2030, which requires more advancements to make energy production and delivery more efficient, according to AEE.

“It is time we moved beyond categories like ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ and recognize that advanced energy represents the future of energy,” said AEE Co-Chair Hemant Taneja, who also is managing director of General Catalyst Partners. “This report shows that advanced energy has already established a substantial footprint on the world economy and the U.S. industry is a large and growing part of it.”

However, AEE said the report “likely understates” the size and extent of advanced energy activity in the United States and elsewhere, in part because it’s a first attempt to analyze data. “Specifically, the U.S. market figures do not account for revenue from export of advanced energy products, and there was no available data for some industry sub-segments. Thus, the findings should be considered a conservative statement of advanced energy market size.”

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