Page 20 - Next Generation 2015 - Digtial Issue

Next Generation Technology

NEXT SAILING THE WINDS
GENERATION OF CHANGE
TECHNOLOGY

Learning from the drive for shore-based
innovation will help shipping, says

Diane Gilpin, founder member of the newly
formed International Wind-Ship Association

BIG news from Tesla’s Elon Musk, chief This maverick approach
executive of the electric car company, positions him as the Steve Jobs of
who recently announced his company the new innovation space — that is,
was offering affordable storage for infrastructure not internet.
renewable energy.
Maybe technology is where the
Considered by many to be the money’s at.
‘game-changer’ in the transition to
wider use of renewables, Tesla’s home Take Masdar in the UAE, an
battery packs make it possible for most entirely renewable powered city is
homes to go ‘off-grid’ — storing solar emerging in the middle of the desert.
energy for use when needed, not just Effectively, it’s a massive research
when it’s sunny. facility to rapidly progress technology
for sustainability, where ‘sustainability’
It is a fundamental change to how is defined as “matching energy supply
we think about energy; established and demand”. Arrays of solar panels
economic models are changing. capture thermal energy to drive
refrigeration units to cool buildings.
Renewable energy is just that
— renewable — and cannot be Their spokesperson says they
commoditised. No-one ‘owns’ it or are good resource stewards for future
can trade it. generations. Strategically, there is
anxiety about how fast fossil fuels
Key in a more sustainable future can be burned in order stay within the
is who owns the technology to harvest internationally agreed two degrees
renewable energy at lowest cost for warming target — the subject of the
maximum efficiency, and who drives upcoming UNFCCC Paris conference.
the innovation.
Rabid environmentalists at Morgan
Mr Musk is famous for maintaining Stanley, The Bank of England, Bank
a radical shared IP policy; he’s not of America, The Church of England,
interested in owning patents, as the Catholic Church, senior business
the velocity of innovation keeps his leaders like Unilever boss Paul
business at the front of the pack.

20 | Lloyd’s List Next Generation 2015 | www.lloydslist.com