The possibility of sharing energy among billions of people marks the beginning of a new era in which we could witness the constant erosion of traditional and hierarchical modes of organization and management, and the adoption in a broad sense of characterized distributive networks for massive collaboration. Jeremy rifkin
The Second Industrial Revolution is coming to an end. The internal combustion engine fueled by oil was the attraction of capital and the reinforcement of the process of economic and social growth, beginning in the middle of the last century, which has been limited by the current global crises.
Fortunately, renewable energies are arriving in time to mitigate the anthropic impact produced over the last two hundred years by fossil fuels, which we can represent symbolically by the following chemical equation:
C + O2 = energy + CO2
Where carbon reacts with oxygen and produces energy plus anthropogenic carbon dioxide.
The revolution in the production of renewable energy is beginning to converge with the revolution in information and communication technologies. This convergence marks the beginning of the Third Industrial Revolution, constituting a process of economic and social effects that can offset the current crises and be its reinforcers in the coming years.
First stage
The production of the different types of renewable energies, which are already called "distributive", solar, wind, hydraulic, biomass, geothermal and tidal, make up the first stage of the Third Industrial Revolution. Although it still accounts for a small percentage of global production, they are experiencing rapid growth.
Billions of public and private capital are being invested in research, development and market penetration. In this scenario, governments, businessmen and the general population will look for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and will try to be more efficient and independent from the energy point of view.
Second scenario
Despite the fact that renewable energies are everywhere, unlike coal, oil and uranium which are highly concentrated, and that new technologies will allow us, more and more, to obtain them cheaper and more efficiently, we need infrastructure to store them. It is here where the construction sector becomes the protagonist of the second scenario.
Its transformation and commercial and economic implications are far-reaching for the real estate, urban planning sector and for the entire world.
Third scenario
To strengthen renewable energies and reduce their costs, prototypical storage systems are needed to facilitate the conversion of intermittent supplies of these energy sources into durable resources. The widely available element that may be most efficient is hydrogen. In addition to being the most universal means for storing all types of renewable energies that can guarantee a stable supply, it ensures both the generation of energy and its transport, which is also very important.
The action of hydrogen can also be represented symbolically by the following chemical equation:
2H2 + O2 = energy + 2H2O
Where hydrogen reacts with oxygen and produces energy plus empathic water. This reaction is reversible by simple electrolysis.
Fourth scenario
The main electricity companies in Europe, the United States, China and Japan and also in certain emerging countries are producing prototypes of the fourth scenario: the reconversion of the electricity grid using the Internet as a model, which will allow companies and the resident population to produce their own energy and share it. Such prototypes will increasingly make possible a wide redistribution of energy. Today's centralized and vertical energy flow will be increasingly obsolete.
Soon companies, national, regional and local corporations and autonomous people will become producers and consumers of their own energy.
Fifth scenario
The democratization of energy will be the meeting point for a new social perspective of distribution, an empathic perspective. All men will have the right and opportunity to generate their own energy locally and share it with others through interconnected regional, national and continental networks. For younger generations, educated in a less hierarchical and networked society, the ability to share and produce their own energy in an interconnected open access network will be seen as both a fundamental right and a responsibility.
Immediate expectations
I have just practically exposed the script of a teamwork that I have been coordinating for years and that from today we will publish and apply from Barcelona, Spain, to the world. As with other prospective jobs many may think. it is very good, all this would be very nice, but it is theoretical or very long term. For the most skeptical, I suggest you reflect on several demonstrations from a few days ago:
"The green economy represents a great potential for the future for the generation of employment, for technological advancement and for the competitiveness of economies."
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero 11-12-2010 in a meeting with businessmen prior to the G-20
"The axes of the action plan are the diversification, in the coming years, of energy sources, substantially increasing the contribution of renewable energies…"
Javier Solana 11-18-2010 in an interview with the Public newspaper
"The Minister of Industry, Energy and Environment of Extremadura, José Luis Navarro, has highlighted the" great potential "to generate employment that has the production of electricity from forest, agricultural or livestock waste, so that the sector of biomass can create "thousands" of jobs in the coming years in Extremadura.
It is "by far" the renewable one that needs the most labor for its operation, according to Navarro during his speech in Mérida at the 'Demonstration Workshop on the energy use of agroforestry waste', organized by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Environment Environment, within the framework of the Altercexa project of the Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Operational Program, which is being developed by seven Spanish and Portuguese partners. "
