I couldn't help but be impressed by the grandeur of the plan by Solaren, a solar energy start-up from Southern California. Following Isaac Asimov's visionary lead, it wants to build and launch a satellite that will collect up to one million megawatts of solar energy and send it back to earth, available 24/7. Solaren just signed up its first customer, California's major electric supplier Pacific Gas & Electric, although the company has only agreed to purchase upon delivery--a risk-free deal for PG&E. And Solaren still has a few things to work out--like how to raise a few billion dollars, build the satellite, launch it, and send the power back to earth. Ah, the devil is in the details!
Still, just the fact that this is being taken seriously is inspiring. It's the kind of big thinking that invites massive skepticism and dozens of legitimate reasons why it will never work. And yet, it's the type of endeavor that unleashes our imagination and pushes the boundaries of our thinking. Outside the dots? How much farther can you get than outer space?
I'm less worried about declining natural resources than most. I believe innovation will present powerful solutions to the most challenging problems. Besides faraway approaches like Solaren's, we should expect dramatic improvements in wind power, oil extraction efficiency, nuclear spent fuel processing and waste material recycling, water desalination and the like. As the availability of existing approaches decline, prices will increase, consumers will become desperate and investors will swarm to bold new ideas that promise a brighter future.
And while the majority of businesses will always be mired in the day-to-day efforts preserving margins and maintaining market share, some will be prepared, because they already see the biggest problems as giant opportunities awaiting the transformational impact of innovation and vision.
