That goes for any kind of innovation.  Innovation targets inefficiency – one of the most inefficient parts of any value chain is humans.Every time a disruptive innovation is unleashed, employees are ejected from the value chain. Then they have to ‘reinvent themselves’ fast, and scramble back.

That said, plug&play solar is starting to pick up. That very well could be the future of solar.

Of course, that means fewer jobs…

Post 2010, computing has become centralised again, moving into the
cloud.

Energy has been struck in the 60s where computing was –
centralised.  Only now is innovation
moving us to decentralisation of energy. The trouble is with clean tech
solutions like wind and solar, is they require additional infrastructure to be
built and maintained. Retrospectively fitting these solutions to buildings is
expensive and requires customisation and consultants.

If we are going to make energy as free and easy to harness as the
air around us, it has to be as simple as paint in a tin. It shouldn’t require
expensive consultants or infrastructure. With little know-how, any person
should be able to turn their home into an energy source.

The Economist published a story a few months ago. A paint
manufacturer created a paint that when applied to a structure, could map that
structure’s location and 3D form back to the cloud using a medical-imaging technique called electrical-impedance
tomography.

Great product for ships and structures residing in remote areas.
Most importantly it’s cheap, and anyone can apply it.

We need to make energy that simple. If it doesn’t come in a tin
that any unskilled person can paint on a wall, it won’t work. We did a piece
that looks at how the future is simple. http://goo.gl/5MR61