See that shiny new smartphone in your hand - I had one of those 10 years ago. Granted it was big, ugly, slow, buggy and furiously expensive, but at the time it was at the cutting edge of mobile technology. Now of course smartphones are powerful, ubiquitous and above all cheap. This is largely thanks to continued technological advancement that’s made electronics cheaper and better year after year, a process known in the industry as Moore’s Law. The reason I mention this is that the world desperately needs energy technologies that are following a similar ‘better, cheaper’ path. The lack of any meaningful media coverage of the current Rio+20 conference is making a rather telling point - the media and the world’s leaders are squarely focused on our economic woes. Environmental concerns are, it seems, yesterday’s news. Against this harsh backdrop green energy will start having to pay its way in cold hard cash, rather than avoided external costs added in a cost-benefit analysis.
Squawking, flapping and pecking around environmental policy since 2011.