Forget about global warming and just do the math.

It took a century for citizens of the United States and Western Europe to achieve a robust standard of living. In China and India, the Earth’s two most-populous nations with a combined population of 2.47 billion, people are bent on achieving that same standard in the next 20 years.

What that means is tremendous demand for the staples of modern life: energy, steel, concrete, clean water. New supplies will either have to be found or invented—fast. That’s why a number of venture capitalists believe the next big development in their industry and among the companies they support will dwarf even the information-technology revolution of the past two decades.

All that’s not to say there aren’t huge opportunities elsewhere. There are—in medicine and bioscience, in new forms of energy, in Web publishing, in other areas yet undreamed of. To talk with Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists is to look forward to a world where science fact and science fiction meet and huge companies yet unborn bestride the world.

The Cleantech Revolution

Take those billions striving for a lifestyle like that enjoyed in the West, add in policies meant to mitigate global warming, and what you’ll see is something of the promise of cleantech.

That’s because that sector could touch everything from how we generate, store, and deliver electricity to the materials we use in our buildings to the cars we drive. In other words, the biggest industries in the world will be changed radically in coming years. At least, that’s what leading venture capitalists believe.

“From a globalization viewpoint, the good news is it’s a big world out there, and everybody seems to have the same needs,” says Alan Salzman, CEO of Vantage Point Ventures. “We want more-efficient lighting and less-expensive, less-polluting vehicles and lower-cost energy generation and grid modernization and clean, affordable water. These are universal issues, and I think the story of the 21st century in part will be written based on which regions of the world, which countries, wind up being the leaders in the transformations of what are some of the largest industries on the planet.”

For Salzman’s company, that has meant big bets on the future of electric vehicles and LED lighting, among other investments in the so-called cleantech space. Vantage Point was one of the original investors in Tesla, the company that manufactures an all-electric, $133,000, high-performance sports car. That investment is looking more and more like it will pay off. Tesla is teaming with Toyota to develop new electric cars, and Toyota will invest $50 million in Tesla after an initial public offering.

Vantage Point is also, perhaps more importantly, the only venture investor in Better Place. That Silicon Valley company has forged deals in Israel, Europe, and Northern California to create the infrastructure for the future of electric cars. The concept is to let electric-car drivers swap a depleted battery for a fully charged battery at a Better Place station.

Right now, says Salzman, we’re just into the first and second generation of electric cars. Looking at the past ability of Silicon Valley and other innovation centers to improve technology rapidly, the next generations will be better, faster, and cheaper. And that will mean much more rapid adoption of electric cars than is commonly projected, he believes.

“So if it were a five-person car and it cost $25,000, comparable to a Prius, why would anyone drive anything else? I think the answer is, 'hmmm, I don’t think you would,'” he says. “So electric cars are an inevitability because the electric motor is inherently more efficient and more effective than a combustion engine.”

While auto analysts expect slower adoption of electric vehicles, Salzman says they’re too pessimistic. He believes a tipping point in that phase could be reached in the next 10 to 15 years.