Intelligent Efficiency: Innovations Reshaping the Energy Efficiency Market
Green Tech Media, June 4, 2013The last two major economic revolutions were caused by the convergence of two factors: communications and energy.
In the 1800s, the convergence of printing technology and steam power created the first form of mass communications — bringing with it sweeping changes in literacy and education. In the 1900s, the convergence of radio and television with electricity and the oil-powered combustion engine created the modern consumer-based society we know today.
We are now on the verge of a third revolution, argues economist Jeremy Rifkin. This one will be abetted by the convergence of the internet and distributed energy, creating new ways to do business, communicate, and build wealth. Rifkin calls this a “new economic paradigm for the 21st century.”