Black Gold Is Turning Green

When we think of vast fortunes made in the world, we tend to focus on Big Oil fortunes. Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller revolutionalized the petroleum business. But times are changing. Don’t think so?

Green tycoons you might ask in bewilderment? Stop scratching your head. What about Zerocarbonista guy Dale Vince? Never heard of him? (Uhh, me neither…) Dale Vince is the founder of Ecotricity, claiming to be the world’s first green electricity company.

Dale Vince, a hippie gone entrepreneur, started Ecotricity in 1995, with a single wind turbine he had used to power an old army truck he called home on a hill near Stroud in Gloucestershire, England.

There are more green millionaires on Britain’s green rich list. Green tycoons such as: Andrew Owens and Alex Lewis, Lee Cottingham, Roy MacGregor, Iain Dorrity, and Barry Garrard. These are just a few names on the list. There are more. Expect this list to grow.

Renewable energy is quickly becoming big business. Wind turbine manufacturers are making huge profits. Here are the Top 10: Vestas, Enercon, Gamesa, GE Energy, Siemens, Suzlon, Nordex, Acciona, REpower, and Goldwind.

The list of onshore wind farms keeps growing. Wind power increased 39% in the year of 2009 in the United States. Wind power in China more than doubled in 2009.

The biggest wind farms currently are in the U.S.A. The Roscoe Wind Farm in Roscoe, Texas, is the world’s largest wind farm.

Electric vehicles will change markets as well. New markets, along with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, considered the largest offshore spill in United States history, will aid in the acceleration for more renewable energy. Viva the next industrial revolution.