Development and funding of projects like this are growing in part because of changes on the political front, where another "revolution" is about to take place.

The political revolution

Famously, the U.S. is the world's largest energy consumer and polluter, burning, for example, some 25 percent of the world's oil.

Progress has been slow in the U.S. in part, because of a political argument that equates helping the environment with hurting the economy, an idea associated primarily with the Republican Party. But the 2008 presidential election season will feature an unusual shift: Republican Party candidates will champion the environment. That's right: Republicans are going green.

Call it "The Schwarzenegger Effect." While Republicans were routed in most recent elections, or squeaked by with tiny majorities, California's Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection by a landslide in the nation's most populous blue state.