Who cares whether or not the emerging new energy economy is dominated by centralized renewable energy or distributed renewable energy?
YOU. You care, because you would like to take control of your long term energy costs and see a better tomorrow. Not to sound like a broken record, but renewable energy is coming. The question is whether or not it will change your world.
Let’s travel back in time to 1880, when Thomas Edison’s power station began generating electricity to power street lights in lower Manhattan for 59 customers. Soon, New York City was buried under copper wires. For the first time, electricity could be delivered to your home. It was revolutionary, mom and pop shops popped up everywhere. It didn’t take long before the industry became overladen with corruption and consolidation.
Facing a government takeover, the largest power companies agreed to become an exclusive franchise (legal monopoly). They agreed to provide lower priced electricity in return for a guaranteed, “reasonable” profit.
Today, we’re quickly moving towards a day when we no longer require centralized power generation. If everyone can cover their own energy needs, we can reform the way we think about ourselves as consumers. Technology can empower us all to move past the simple supply-demand paradigm. Dynamic demand combines smart software with energy use. It means you decide where and when to use power. What do we really need from the power company, if we can generate our own?
If the utilities continue along the same road of centralized power generation, then it won’t matter whether or not they use coal or solar panels–or burn piles of puppies. If they succeed in crushing the economics of your solar generation, then they control the resources. They decide what to use, and you’ll be stuck paying whatever fees they pass through the regulators.
Folks, there’s a war raging out there. Look at Nevada, look at California and Hawaii. What’s happening there will happen here. It’s time for you to get involved, unless you’re happy with the same-ol-same-ol.
Come on. You feel it, too. We’re moving from “top-down” to “bottom-up” world. Something is breaking loose; call it the quickening, call it spring fever, call it the Age of Aquarius. Once we all stand up and do what we can do, then this solar energy thing won’t just be a battle between billionaires. It will usher in a new democratic energy economy, complete with new job opportunities, business services, independence, and the kind of energy security we have never imagined before.