As a professional futurist and business forecaster one of my main responsibilities is to prepare people and organizations for the future. To do this, I try to heighten their awareness. There are a number of ways to accomplish this goal but the best and most powerful method is to simply be on the alert for [...]
In 1978, Congress was convinced the United States was running out of natural gas so it passed the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act (FUA). A decade later the law was overturned as vast new sources of natural gas were found. In 2003, the National Petroleum Council estimated North America might have 1.1 trillion [...]
Over the past few months, I have delivered keynote addresses (on the topic of emerging trends) to a number of utility-related organizations across the country. In addition to covering technological advances in advanced batteries, fuel cell and solar technology, I explain how new business models are also fueling the trend toward decentralized, distributed energy. On [...]
This article (Co-ops Told to Prepare for New Technologies) offers a solid recap of my keynote presentation at the 2012 Touchstone Energy New & Emerging Technologies Conference. To emphasize the point that big change is coming for the utility industry, consider this paragraph from India’s Panel Price Crash Could Spark Solar Revolution: Recent figures from [...]
Corning Glass has created an impressive 11 minute video that offers a real “window” into the future. If you have the time, I highly recommend it … especially if you’re in the automotive, buildings & construction, education and/or health care industries:
In the coming weeks I’ll be addressing a number of utility-related organizations, including delivering keynote presentations at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s 2012 Touchstone Emerging Technology Conference in Fort Myers; the Minnesota Rural Electric Cooperative’s Annual Conference in St. Paul; and the Western Energy Institutes 2012 Spring Energy Symposium in Las Vegas. I’ll be [...]