Technology has entered the realm of our natural resources to become perhaps the most important element in the ecosystem for these large industries. In energy new generation technologies like solar are seeing rapid adoption. New lighting and drivetrain technologies are offering major advances in efficiency. Demand management solutions are measuring and optimizing energy use and cost. Energy, transportation and utility markets will never be the same. Even construction materials and basic living elements are being driven towards the adoption of new, more efficient and/or alternative energy solutions.
Battery technology has long held great promise and today much greater levels of scientific and technical investments are showing vast improvements and rapid innovation that will lead us to practical hybrid vehicles, electric cars and new methods for storing and consuming electrical energy.
Water is another resource that is increasingly in scarce supply. More importantly our water supplies are becoming contaminated in a way that is more threatening than any other environmental situation. (In case you don’t know it human beings and most life runs on water.) New technologies are emerging that promise to remove the toxic contaminants from water that stem from manufacturing, energy production and mining to render it pure again.
Nanotechnology is transforming our most basic materials from the clothes we wear to the concrete we use to build our homes. This vast area of opportunity is only just now beginning to enter the commercial phase.
