Electricity 2.0 to be bigger than Web 2.0
An interesting article in today’s Irish Independent by John Kennedy suggests “it’s time for forward thinkers to embrace Ireland’s future economic edge: green energy.
The smartest minds in silicon valley have their eyes and wallets on a bigger prize…electricity!
Tech firms from google to IBM realise that smart energy usage, from homes to cars that can manage their own use of electricity and fuel, and even sell surplus electricity back to the power companies.
Read the article: How 2.0 is set to be bigger than Web 2.0Electricity
To put all of this into context. If we go back two decades and look at where information technololy was at and how it has become an intricite part of everyone’s live’s. Mobile phones were literally unheard of in 1987, yet within a decade they were became an essential accessory for everyone from schoolkids to older folks.
Let’s now try to look forward a decade from now to 2018. Ireland has set a target of 40% renewable energy usage by 2020. Ireland in fairness, being one of the first countries in the world to do so. The technology is already developed to capture, at least this amount of energy from renewables, freely available in Ireland such as wind and wave power. In the 1980′s the technology to develop mobile phones and personal computers was similarily developed. It only took a few short years for that technology to be fully adapted for home users. It is very likely that renewable energy technology will become a domestic feature of every home within the next decade.
All of this is of immense importance for those of you who are thinking about designing your own homes now. Try to design your home with 2018 and even 2028 and beyond. Most of us will still be paying our mortgages well beyond that. Houses that maximise solar gain and are very well insulated now, will increase the possibility of that home being independent of its energy needs in a very short time.
