| Table 6-13 |
| USPTO patents granted in clean energy and pollution control technologies, by selected area: Selected years, 1995–2010 |
| |
| Technology area |
1995 |
2000 |
2005 |
2008 |
2010 |
| |
| All clean energy and
pollution control technologies |
2,991 |
3,641 |
3,533 |
3,688 |
6,145 |
| Alternative energy |
825 |
1,154 |
1,482 |
1,606 |
2,993 |
| Bioenergy |
43 |
71 |
60 |
100 |
222 |
| Electric and hybrid vehicles |
129 |
247 |
365 |
377 |
532 |
| Fuel cells |
104 |
219 |
518 |
534 |
1,031 |
| Geothermal |
23 |
21 |
19 |
29 |
41 |
| Hydropower |
24 |
32 |
30 |
43 |
72 |
| Nuclear |
263 |
144 |
127 |
83 |
120 |
| Solar |
210 |
377 |
244 |
238 |
651 |
| Wind |
28 |
55 |
137 |
197 |
355 |
| Energy storage |
227 |
476 |
461 |
526 |
980 |
| Batteries |
124 |
285 |
224 |
235 |
547 |
| Hydrogen production and storage |
54 |
114 |
161 |
193 |
278 |
| Ultracapacitors |
24 |
52 |
61 |
83 |
131 |
| All others |
28 |
37 |
34 |
27 |
41 |
| Smart grid |
295 |
277 |
288 |
385 |
528 |
| Pollution mitigation |
1,717 |
1,864 |
1,456 |
1,321 |
1,887 |
| Air |
701 |
835 |
819 |
719 |
1,076 |
| Capture and storage of carbon and other greenhouse gases |
41 |
71 |
72 |
74 |
152 |
| Cleaner coal |
64 |
72 |
60 |
54 |
158 |
| Environmental remediation |
160 |
140 |
76 |
78 |
89 |
| Recycling |
327 |
322 |
170 |
120 |
186 |
| Solid waste |
304 |
235 |
137 |
116 |
129 |
| Water |
301 |
385 |
274 |
281 |
319 |
| |
USPTO = U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
NOTES: Clean energy and pollution control technologies include alternative energy, energy storage, smart grid, and pollution mitigation. Alternative energy includes solar, wind, nuclear, bioenergy, hydropower, wave/tidal/ocean, geothermal, and electric/hybrid. Pollution mitigation includes recycling; control of air, water, and solid waste pollution; environmental remediation; cleaner coal; and capture and storage of carbon and other greenhouse gasses. Energy storage includes batteries, compressed air, flywheels, superconductivity, magnet energy systems, ultracapacitors, hydrogen production and storage, and thermal energy. Technologies classified by The Patent Board™. Sum of individual technologies may exceed broad areas and sum of broad categories may exceed total because some patents are assigned to multiple individual technologies or broad areas.
SOURCE: The Patent Board™, special tabulations (2011) of Proprietary Patent database. See appendix tables 6-66–6-84.
Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 |
|