Road Runner

U.S. Venture Capital Moving from IT to Clean Energy

2008 will go down in history as the first year of the energy revolution and the last year of the information revolution. Sure, information technology will continue to grow and improve our lives, but the dramatic changes it has created in our lives and jobs over the last 20 years is over. We are now in the mature phase of IT development.

There are so many (I’ve read about hundreds in the past few years) promising energy-oriented inventions and innovations in the works that dramatic improvements in our lives are in store in the next couple of decades. It took oil above $60/barrel (which is only the last 3 years) to motivate renewed interest in alternate energy that hasn’t been seen for 25 years. During that time material technology, computer modeling, etc. have advanced greatly making affordable alternate energy possible. Now it just a “foot race” to apply this new tech to alternate energy systems. Advancements are proceeding very quickly.

We are now beginning a multi decade change in energy production that will dramatically change our lives. Twenty years from now many of us will be energy independent in our homes with 40% efficient solar cells on our roofs. Some type of energy storage (we can only guess what it will be) will power our homes at night. We will have plug-in hybrids that may be powered by fuel cells when off the battery. Maybe the hydrogen for the fuel cell will come from hydrogen generated in our homes. The hydrogen in our cars may be stored in carbon nono-tube structures so we can travel 500 miles on 1 charge. Advanced biofuels may power trucks and heavy machinery. The list goes on and on. There will be energy-oriented improvements in the future that are unimaginable today like the internet was unimaginable 20 years ago.

All this cheap energy will lead to a powerful economic boom. This will lead to dramatic changes in the global economy. There will be strong movements to take on global warming, overpopulation, water shortage, pollution, poverty, disease, etc. This will lead to giant world-wide projects to address these problems.

These changes will dramatically change what companies will be the big players in the future. The next Microsoft, Google, Ebay, Apple, Research in Motion, or Amazon will most likely be in the energy sector. Good luck determining which companies will be the next breakout companies (just like the Internet companies in the 90s), but stayed tuned to the energy sector because that is where, I believe, it will happen.