Age of Sustainability

UK’s first geothermal plant

November 08, 2018 by Denis Pombriant

Renewable energy is becoming mainstream. CNBC reported today that “Drilling at the U.K.’s first deep geothermal electricity plant is to start this week.” The significance of this event can’t be over stated. Geothermal represents a renewable, safe and pollution-free energy source that can be directly converted into electric power. The geothermal...

Disruptive innovation drives economic development

October 04, 2018 by Denis Pombriant

[caption id="attachment_819" align="alignright" width="365"] Cover of AoS[/caption] The ideas in The Age of Sustainability are simple. Technology inventions drive economic advances and we’ve seen this play out repeatedly since the Industrial Revolution. Someone invents a low cost and efficient way to make steel and suddenly there are many new products...

Day Zero, You don’t really want to know this

February 01, 2018 by Denis Pombriant

Simply put, Day Zero is the day when the water runs out, the taps are dry, and city officials have to recon with how much violence zero water will inspire. Day Zero has already happened in places like Syria and Iran but at a city level, not for a whole...

Apres Davos

January 30, 2018 by Denis Pombriant

[caption id="attachment_790" align="alignright" width="581"] Sun setting on Davos[/caption] The just concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, was a time for world political and business leaders to come together to think bigly. But it would be a mistake to think that a confab of leaders would produce the last...

4IR (wonkish)

January 24, 2018 by Denis Pombriant

[caption id="attachment_657" align="alignright" width="339"] The Age of Sustainability looks at an important inflection point in human history.[/caption] I’ve taken the lead from Paul Krugman who labels some of his blog posts wonkish if the subject gets into the weeds to make a point that might not be appreciated by the...

Happening in 2018

January 02, 2018 by Denis Pombriant

This will be an important transition year. Car makers are poised to bring to market scores of new electric models in 2019, so in the lead up to that moment, this year will be a time when we all become more familiar with the terms and conditions of electric driving....

Free market EV success

December 29, 2017 by Denis Pombriant

The free market is gearing up its profile in the electric car market and the immediate results are so-so. Perfect! Nothing goes in a straight line or preferably like a hockey stick when markets are new. You see hockey sticks in hindsight after the great investment opportunities have come and...

Cars of the year and other important stuff

December 21, 2017 by Denis Pombriant

BMW sold 100,000 electric vehicles in 2017 well ahead of the 60,000 it sold last year. The company sais it plans to offer a dozen fully electric cars by 2025 and it has a 4-door sedan in the pipeline for 2021 according to Tech Crunch. Meanwhile USA Today reports the...

Disruptive innovation, EV’s and the charging station

December 14, 2017 by Denis Pombriant

King Champ (K.C.) Gillette invented the popular form of the safety razor and made his money selling blades. He was so successful that the approach became a business model and in entrepreneurial conversations phrases like, “We plan to make money on the blades” is all one needs to say to...

Alt fuels driving K-wave formation

December 11, 2017 by Denis Pombriant

[caption id="attachment_564" align="alignright" width="496"] Mary Barra, CEO, GM[/caption] Have you noticed how petroleum companies like Exxon-Mobile and Shell are talking about their research into alternate fuels or ways of using them that don’t cause pollution such as fuel cells? Those commercials are designed to make us feel good by reassuring...

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