Category: Energy

Low energy consumption is the new hotness

Wednesday, 07 April 2010 09:26 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Two events in Europe point to a significant industrial trend: Using lots of energy simply isn’t hip.

First, an experimental plane just launched from Switzerland without any fuel on board – the Solar Impulse.

Second, Daimler (having lost weight and colored its hair and bought a new wardrobe following its breakup with Chrysler) and Renault-Nissan signed an alliance in Brussels to make small, energy-efficient engines destined for a variety of innovative, small vehicles destined for city living.

Meanwhile, General Motors failed to find a buyer for Hummer, the symbol of energy-guzzling American military triumphalism.

None of this is “green” business – it’s purely in line with the emerging reality of energy scarcity.

Interview with Pam Atherton on A Closer Look radio

Monday, 15 February 2010 15:39 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Last week I had the enormous pleasure to speak with Pam Atherton on A Closer Look radio. She’s a bona fide radio professional with a profound understanding of society, the Pam Athertonmedia, information, wisdom, and how to ask great questions. This hour-long interview on the future of energy and local communities could have gone on much longer, and felt like in went by in a few moments.

We delve into the implications of peak oil, why local gardens are the new hotness, and how organizations deal with information about the future. Definitely worth a listen.

Gregor Macdonald on the future of energy, economics, and society

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 12:46 Written by Eric Garland 1 Comment

For those of you who know Gregor MacDonald, you know you’re in for a treat with this podcast- a full hour of some of Gregor’s latest forecasts on energy, economics and society, insights you simply won’t get anywhere else.

For those of you who haven’t discovered Gregor yet, he is one of the top energy analysts in the world, and in our minds, one of the top analysts of anything, period.

This podcast covers sweeping ground:

  • Why we’re at peak automobiles
  • The end of cheap oil
  • Coal’s role in the development of the world economy
  • The return to human capital and small towns
  • Why waterways are the future
  • Our current period of “late phase economic decadence
  • Why PAKISTAN holds the key to the Copenhagen Protocol

Crazier still, we could have spend ANOTHER hour talking to him and still not exhausted him of insight.

Enjoy.

Competitive Futures Podcast with Gregor Macdonald Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Gregor MacDonald: It’s a coal world, we just live in it

Saturday, 12 December 2009 11:42 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Not a happy scenario, but one you must consider:

“The November issue of Gregor.us Monthly, Coal World, has now been published and it carries an unhappy message. I am forecasting that the world will not successfully transition from oil to a broad basket of renewable energy and power sources over the next twenty years. Instead, I strongly favor an outcome in which oil, the construction fuel for the global buildout of new power generation, becomes so expensive that the world becomes energy poor, and turns instead back to coal. In case you hadn’t noticed, the process of energy impoverishment has already begun.”

Where is America’s energy policy?

Monday, 03 August 2009 22:55 Written by Eric Garland 0 Comments

Alhough the new government of the United States just spent hundreds of billions rescuing car companies, propping up suburban real estate patterns, and chasing the pipe dream of a biofuel economy, we remain “a country without an energy policy.”

Read Gregor MacDonald‘s monthly newsletter to follow why this can’t be ignored much longer.

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About the blog

This is the official trend blog of Competitive Futures, a management consultancy that provides trend research and analysis for business and government around the world. Here, we update you on interesting trends we see as part of our work for our clients.


For managing partner Eric Garland's new author and speaker blog, please consult and bookmark http://www.ericgarland.co

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