The alternative energy sector is so fragmented between not only which type of alternative energy will be economical, but the technologies behind each alternative energy source are widespread with no clear trend.

It seems like each week I read, hear, or see a new method and technology to produce my garbage into a form of biofuel that will generate enough energy to run my truck for 100mpg!

Now, this isn’t a bad thing. I love to see all these technologies being developed as a proof of concept, and then if it has enough legs underneath it, get some seed capital to manufacture and create some prototypes. I have seen literally hundreds of different technologies that produce energy from an alternative source and I am always amazed at the human ingenuity.

We are in an exciting part of history. What’s happening in the alternative energy sector today reminds me of what happened to the personal computer industry in the 80’s. At the beginning of the decade, there were hundreds of different computer manufacture’s as the personal computer began to be manufactured and sold to consumers around the world. The dominate companies were able to standardize their personal computers and it forced the smaller players to get out of the market.

The same thing is happening with alternative energy technologies right now. Over the next 3-5 years we will begin to see more of the technologies that will be considered the “standard” for each alternative energy source. Once that happens, prices will become very competitive and begin to drop, thus becoming more economical for everyone to purchase and use.

The exciting part about all of this is watching it happen in front of our eyes. Which alternative energy sources will become the primary player? What technologies will become part of everyday living? How will our world be different once this is all in place?

I have my thoughts about many of these questions and I’ve written about quite a few of them. Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to cover more of these questions in more detail and I’ll try to paint more of a picture of the future in your mind.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Alternative Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.