The Next Big Change

Today, we live in a very interesting world. Earth has been around for about 4.5 billion years. It preserved energy in terms of fossil fuel for billions of years for us to consume. Today we are close to depleting those resources.

Our generation has believed that our survival depends upon advancement, exploration, innovation and discovery. We should advance rapidly, uncover new frontiers. However, we are running against one major problem - that of dwindling energy resources world wide. Human kind must negotiate this challenge successfully or perish. Mother nature is cruel and unrelenting. Are we going to adapt and adopt the next big change ?

Our Electric Future - Article by Andy Grove

The following article by Andy Grove is quite thought provoking:
http://www.american.com/archive/2008/july-august-magazine-contents/our-electric-future

This is a wonderful article. Few comments:

1. We are witnessing a Macro level event - a rare opportunity to turn
the behavior of millions to 'Green Living' and Sustainability. Major
influencers and forces are joining hands. It is a great time for
'electric' based transportation alternatives.

2. The next super power may be Saudi Arabia as the article highlights,
oil is like oxygen for world economy. This is an amazing wealth
transfer from rest of the world to the middle east. China and India
are paying a big price for today's situation. All the US Dollars these
governments had accumulated are now moving rapidly to pay for oil.
This is also causing very high inflationary pressures and interest
rates. The improvements in the living standard of these two countries
of last two decades are being undermined rapidly.

3. The article talks about failure of the US to meet energy
independent goals. I still remember the days of $0.98 per gallon. With
energy costs so low, who has the incentive to change. It was not
faulty execution but the efficiency of energy markets which were to
blame.

4. The argument for using electricity is very impressive. The concept
of 'resilience' as I interpret it is to provide stable prices for a
long time.

5. The arguments about transportation and making dual fuel available
are also noteworthy. Particularly the fact that transition to dual
fuel or all electric is going to be slow and painful. However, what is
cool is the argument about converting low mileage vehicles first. That
is going after the low hanging fruit.

6. The conflicts between nations over energy resources are going to be
very real. Today's energy prices are also going to take away the low
cost advantages offered by countries such as India and China.

7. The concluding comment of the article sums up the things quite
nicely:
" We have an urgent need for a strategy that can deflect our march
toward this “persisting conflict” by strengthening our energy
resilience. A policy that favors sticky energy with multiple sources
and that aggressively moves vehicles first toward dual-fuel mode and
ultimately to running on just electricity provides the answer."

Wonderful article, very insightful.

Rakesh
E+ Electric Bicycles by Electric Motion Systems
http://www.ElectricMotionSystems.com/