What Happens To Utilities When Consumers Can Create Or Harness Their Own Power

Is the utility industry the next major industry to become extinct?

What happens to the power industry (utilities) when consumers are able to "create"/harness their own power?

The newspaper industry started to die as soon as TV branched out to more than 13 channels. The knockdown punch came when the Internet arrived. People had an infinite dynamic choices to get their news.

While there aren't an infinite amount of options for power (yet), solar and wind options will take away some of the utility industry's monopoly.


Brad Tirpak, Managing Partner at the private investment fund Locke Partners made the case that:


electric utilities are as woefully unprepared for the coming disruption of cheap, distributed solar power as newspapers were unprepared for the disruption of the internet in 2000

His conclusion?

Regulated utilities should be able to handle the imminent changes to the industry brought about by the implementation of solar energy and other renewable sources.

Electric Utilities Today Like Newspapers in 2000



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China Bans Indoor Smoking

Puff puff goes poof poof.

The nation which is the "future" of the smoking business, just dampened the growth prospects of Philip Morris.

On the bright side, maybe this disruption will alleviate the impending tsunami of health costs.

From 24/7 Wall St China Restricts Smoking Indoors

Sixty-percent of adult men in the People’s Republic are smokers.

The AP reports that China will ban smoking indoors in seven of the nation’s big provincial capitals.






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BitTorrent....The Internet's Darling Becomes A Dud

Representing about half the world’s Internet traffic by some measures, The Street.com called it the next gigantic IPO.

CNN called it the The Next Big IPO.

Much of their popularity is due to its ability to break the download bottleneck.

However when Comcast, a service provider, decided to put a "hold" on their Internet traffic, their downfall began.

BitTorrent Sacks Half Its Staff

As an open-source technology protocol, the file-sharing system BitTorrent is going strong, representing about half the world’s Internet traffic by some measures. But the San Francisco company, BitTorrent, is showing signs of serious trouble while it tries to commercialize the technology.

The company, with its remaining 20 employees, will focus on BitTorrent DNA, a content delivery network that helps media and video game companies distribute their products cheaply over the Internet.

Om Malik was spot on with this quote "While Web 2.0 companies may get acquired by Google (or Yahoo), specialized software start-ups with products that enhance hardware will find buyers more often. Expect this trend to continue, and in fact gain momentum"


So is the market in need of more bandwidth, or just bandwidth efficiency?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Picking up any newspaper or listening to any news outlet will have you wondering if the days of a prosperous U.S. economy are over. There isn't anything new to invent (we have heard that before).

How did we get here and where do we go from here?

What is the next boom?


Here's a compilation of events/transformations that got us here:

Year 2K and Internet boom
-massive spending in the hardware/software industry (PC growth)
-telcos ramped up by laying pipe
-govt flooded market with money to fight off any 1/1/2000 problems
-easy money led to "dumb" IPOS (remember Pets.com?)...big fees for investment bankers
-"day trading" a new industry
(the first leg of the financial industry greed)

The end of the Net boom and the recession officially started with 9/11

Fed lowers interest rates to stimulate economy after 9/11

-home building wave starts (demand for lumber, concrete starts)
-home prices start to increase causing refinancing, line of credit boom---consumer wave starts
-Govt creates Homeland Security (security industry booms)
-housing boom starts with all time low interest rates (stock day trading shifts to day trading homes)
-unprecedented hurricane activity (and strength) triggers roofing/repair industry
-home builders, realtors, mortgage brokers see record prosperity
-the financial industry create esoteric investments based on mortgages (second leg of the financial industry greed)

CHINDIA (China and India two massive economies start to ramp

-farming, manufacturing, medical equipment companies
-commodity prices skyrocket
-the tipping point for finding cheap oil and Chindia's massive appetite create perfect storm
-Olympics in China create big spending for one time event
-oil prices reach record levels impacting consumers and manufacturers..the start of the CleanTech money flow
-US Dollar falls to record levels

What caused the upcoming perfect storm?

-Home prices crater causing foreclosures, home-builder weakness
-oil prices dive on economic slowdown (hedge funds on the wrong side of this trade are forced to liquidate contracts causing rapid drop in price)

-worldwide economic slowdown and financial industry
-Govt approves $700b bailout of financials
-Auto industry asks for a government handout

Oil and natural gas prices drop drastically
-Cleantech investment comes to a halt (a massive newly created industry that was expected to resurrect our economy)
-Photovoltaic prices (solar cells) expected to drop in '09
-Pickens delays his wind farm plan

The economy is cyclical with varying sizes of booms and busts.

The question is what technology, government mandate, or event will create the next boom?

The Fingerprint, A Physical World Hyperlink, And Physical World Connection Help Police

How is a fingerprint like a website (URL)?

When an Internet enabled device scans a fingerprint (retrieves a match using a database through the Net) and delivers information, it (fingerprint) has acted as a Physical World Hyperlink.

A computer resolves a machine readable identifier and delivers information through the Web.

From Guardian Police use fingerprints in the street

Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street.

The new technology, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months. Tens of thousands of sets - as compact as BlackBerry smartphones - are expected to be distributed.