A clean disruption of energy and transportation will change our current world in 10 to 15 years. The lifestyle that we’re enjoying now is changing. And I dare say: for the better. Here are my predictions.
Invisible technology disruption
This disruption is actually happening as we speak, though we won’t notice it until it becomes evident. To put it simply: until we start using the results of it in our everyday life. But it’s all starting, slowly but surely. It’s just like with mobile phones. Our mobile phones now have the same amount of processing power as the supercomputers of 15 years ago had.
The results of the disruption:
– All new energy will be solar or wind-based.
– The development of battery technology will remove the power spikes from the electricity networks.
– Later, centralized production and the electric utilities will become obsolete.
– Current oil and gas-based technology will disappear.
– All new mass-market vehicles will be electric.
– We will be able to control our own energy production and usage with advanced applications.
From centralized to distributed
After this disruption, buildings and vehicles will no longer be passive energy consumers. They’ll become adaptive systems with the ability to intelligently generate, store and manage power. This new architecture of energy is transforming the 100-year-old centralized energy model with a distributed, knowledge-based, and user-centric model.
Videos
Tony Seba’s presentation explains the technological and financial developments that will drive us in this direction:
I also recommend the following video. This one shows that solar energy production has already reached the point where it’s cheaper than gas-based electricity. It also presents the economics of scale when solar panels are produced in China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmyrbKBZ6SU
Software challenges
All these transformations are going to need new software solutions.
Energy:
– Advanced battery and solar management systems
– New electricity grid management for distributed production and storage
– Home automation solutions to control energy flows
– Production-line optimization of battery and solar system manufacturing
As for new vehicles, we’ll need:
– Self-learning systems to control both the vehicles and communication between them
– New traffic management solutions that facilitate the usage of self-driving vehicles
– Charging station networks with enhanced user interfaces
– More Uber-type solutions for automated car fleet services
– New entertainment systems for driverless cars
– New ship and airplane designs to adapt to the electric drive
The key to mastering the software challenge is further development of the current embedded software solutions and Web-based optimization architectures. With those technology advances, we’re going to end up with worldwide energy production and traffic control systems.
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