Denis Du Bois: For the cleantech sector, 2009 was not the year we hoped for. It was a rollercoaster ride. We had recession, and inauguration; bailouts of banks, and banks bailing out.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act expanded tax credits for renewable energy, and teased with funds and green jobs slow to materialize. The EPA declared carbon dioxide a harmful substance.

We finished the year without a climate treaty from Copenhagen, without federal carbon legislation from Congress, without normalcy on Wall Street, and without a housing recovery on Main Street. In a large way, though, we can be thankful.

Bubbles went "pop," but the world economy did not go "boom," and is now in gradual recovery. Many call cleantech the bright spot in the economy. Washington was awarded some of the largest contracts and loans from the stimulus bill, and is ranked third among the top states by jobs created or saved.

And we have much to hope for in 2010. At least half of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds -- tens of billions of dollars in loans, guarantees, grants and tax credits -- are yet to be allocated and spent.

But that isn't enough. We need the return of debt and equity capital to business in general.

When jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond saw a former girlfriend with a wealthy financier, he said, "This is the way the world ends -- not with a whim, but a banker."

Wall Street bankers didn't do anyone any favors in 2009. But in 2010, after the bonus checks are cashed, they can motivate cleantech entrepreneurs by embracing IPOs in the sector. A few, at least, please.

Whimsical venture capital investors who dabbled in cleantech before the recession can live up to the name "cleantech VC" in 2010.

Look beyond software with a green twist, and really get your hands dirty and green.

Industries like solar module manufacturing and green homebuilding can represent a return to American leadership and prosperity. Who in the investment community wouldn't want to be a part of that?

America is playing catch-up on the world stage.

The Copenhagen climate conference opened our eyes to the full complexity of the issues before us, and the hollowness of opposing voices at home.

Perhaps Congress will gather its guts to stand up to those powerful lobbies in 2010. Only then can the climate conference in Mexico City next December produce a meaningful post-Kyoto agreement with U.S. commitment.

With a global commitment on carbon emissions, and a domestic commitment by the financial community, our next decade will start with a bang. And that will bring an explosion of activity in the cleantech industry, here in Washington and around the globe.

So get ready. 2009's parting "whimper" might just be the first cry of the new-born era we've been hoping for.

Denis Du Bois is CEO of P5 Group, a cleantech marketing firm in Seattle. He is the founder of Energy Priorities Magazine and a frequent commentator on cleantech topics. Guest posts are the opinions of their authors, and don't necessarily represent the viewpoint of TechFlash or its staff.