Saturday, September 12, 2009

Connecting the Dots on Electricity

As a blogger since 2004, this is going to be my most important post. The service I try to provide you, my readers, is taking a series of complex data points and embodying them in a story that makes you think. What I offer is simple: Entertainment and Insight.

Something big is about to happen with electricity and it is going to happen soon.

I have selected 3 videos about electricity from TED.COM. Watch them in sequence and tell me if you connect the dots the way I do.

VIDEO #1:
Concept: Shai Agassi wants to put you behind the wheel of an electric car -- but he doesn't want you to sacrifice convenience (or cash) to do it.
What To Watch For: This not about an "invention". This is about a fundamentally new business model for the consumer of automobiles, the auto industry itself and the companies that provide energy.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/shai_agassi_on_electric_cars.html


VIDEO #2:
Concept: Eric Giler has a plan to beam electric power through the air to wirelessly power your laptop or recharge your car. You may never plug in again.
What To Watch For: The live demonstration on stage. It works.
http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html


VIDEO #3:
Concept: John La Grou, a long-time electronics inventor, audio designer and entrepreneur, wants to save lives and energy with a new, smarter type of electrical outlet.
What To Watch For: This is the answer to how we can consume electricity for new things (like cars) without increasing our total consumption of electricity. It works.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/john_la_grou_plugs_smart_power_outlets_1.html


THE FUTURE IS "BRIGHT":

The last 200 years of human development has been immeasureably accelerated due to cheap and plentiful sources of energy. Cheap compared to doing the work manually or with donkeys-> 1 Barrell of oil = 5.8 million BTUs = 23,200 hours of human labor (agricultural standard). Because energy is so cheap, we have been able to do almost everything with practically nothing. This transformed modern society.

The good news is that limitless, cheap electrical power will remain with us. According to Ray Kurzweil , "We also see an exponential progression in the use of solar energy," he said. "It is doubling now every two years. Doubling every two years means multiplying by 1,000 in 20 years. At that rate we'll meet 100 percent of our energy needs in 20 years. [with solar power]"

In summary:

  1. The new business model for private transportation has been defined and some country somewhere will adopt it.
  2. The ability to transmit electricity wirelessly has been proven, it will now be perfected.
  3. The rate of progression of solar power is an exponential curve.
  4. Legacy forms of energy production are requiring more and more energy to produce energy due to "high grading"
  5. Smart outlets are a bridging technology providing safety and extraordinary savings.

9 comments:

  1. Wow... You have given me a lot to think about for sure. Why doesn't the press cover this kind of news?

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  2. I had seen the second two videos but not the EV one. I wonder if you even need battery swap if you can buy power from the car next to you while sitting in traffic. I can not wait to throw out all the charging cables.

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  3. Do you know of any companies that are working in these areas? Any opportunities to invest?

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  4. In Iceland we are establishing 10.000 charging stations and 150 speed-charging stations located around the country. The idea is that one could charge one's car while shopping or going to the cinema. An average car could be fully loaded in 3-4 hours in a regular charging station and in 10-15 minutes in a speed-charging station. Since we have lots of geothermal electricity production and some very long nights solar may not be best for us. This will be a big drop in our cost of living since petrol is so expensive.

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  5. We have bad realities of the air in country mine. Coal is very bad. Photovoltaic is our future. We make here but not in my city. Government will set the path.

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  6. I think you are on to something-Nice catch. I will take it from here and alert the network.

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  7. Your premise falls short for me. I don't ever see us flying aircraft with electricity so oil is going to be around for a long time.

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  8. Ted, should we stop the war(s) to secure our oil-supply right now ?

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  9. Very interesting!
    Looking forward to see the development in this area. It's about time...

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