Launching ‘The Energy Roadmap’ and Post on Al Gore’s Call to Action
It is official!
I will be leading efforts to launch a future of energy blog within the Memebox network on Monday, August 18th!!
“The Energy Roadmap” will be a forward-focused, globally oriented site exploring aspects related to the Energy Industry, Energy and Transportation, Energy and Design, and Energy and Society. I will be the lead writer and curator, but it will be structured as an open community blogging platform for anyone to contribute.
In the meantime I have started posting to FutureBlogger.
My first post raises the important question of innovating through incremental vs disruptive technologies and business models. In particular, I look at Al Gore’s recent call to action for reinventing the electricity power generation sector- without mentioning the word ‘biology’ or the idea that carbon could actually become a feedstock for greening the hydrocarbon industry.
I certainly recognize that we need to have short-term policy strategies to enable long-term change, but wonder why we are not first questioning our assumptions about the future of energy and where great disruptive business models might emerge. The NASA/Apollo program was a bottom up, ‘build new’ program, not a call to transform a existing industry like energy production.
The assumption that our only green strategy is ‘carbon free’ alternative power generation seems ripe for being challenged. What if a more effective strategy is to ‘green’ the hydrocarbon industry and change the economic value of carbon as an emission by-product to a profittable feedstock for algae and bacteria that can produce liquid biofuels or hydrogen-electricity?
This is a big idea- and certainly not on the radar of mainstream public discourse. But Al Gore specializes in mainstreaming big ideas!!
While bioenergy is not a silver bullet, I was a bit shocked that bioenergy did not emerge as a viable ten year strategy for transforming the electricity generation sector.
Link to article to read more…
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Garry Golden - Futurist / Strategist
Garry Golden is a strategy consultant, researcher and speaker on issues shaping life and business in the 21st century.
Garry is a professionally trained Futurist - holding a Masters Degree in Futures Studies. He has experience in private sector consulting, futures education/training- and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists.
This blog explores ideas and developments in research, business, and social change that could define life in the 21st century.