Third Industrial Revolution

The Third Industrial Revolution

"We have the science and technology to do it, but it will mean nothing unless there is a change in will." — Jeremy Rifkin

We are on the cusp of a Third Industrial Revolution that could give us a door open to a new post-fossil fuel era. It was the first Industrial Revolution that brought together print and literacy with coal steam and rail. The second combined the telegraph and telephone with the internal combustion engine and oil. What we now have now is the possibility of a distributed energy revolution. We can all create our own energy, store it, and then distribute it to each other. Twenty five years from now millions of buildings will become power plants that will load renewable energy. We will load solar power from the sun, wind from turbines and even ocean waves on each coast. We can also make the power grid of the world smart and intelligent; we call it inter-grid. Not far from now, millions and millions of people will load power to buildings, store it in the form of hydrogen and distribute energy peer-to-peer; just like digital media and the internet. The first inter-grids are going up in the United States this year in Houston, Boulder Colorado, and Southern California. The "Third Industrial Revolution" is an economic game plan. We have the science and technology to do it, but it will mean nothing unless there is a change in will.

Four Pillars
Renewable Energy
Buildings as Positive Powerplants
Hydrogen and Other Storage
Smart Grids and Plug-in Vehicles

European Dream – Jeremy Rifkin
Tarcher/Penguin, 2004
306.3094 RIFKI