The Sharing Economy has impacted a range of different industries such as hospitality, automotive and transport, retail and consumer goods and media and entertainment. An industry that's also starting to feel the consequences of the rising sharing economy and collaborative consumption is the energy sector.
In this blog post I will shed some light on three innovative companies that are disrupting the energy sector:
The cost of solar energy has according to an article in National Geographic dropped with 70% since 2009 while the panels have gotten smarter and more efficient. Across the world, we can see that renewable energy is expanding faster than fossil fuels. Despite recent years price drops, there are individuals and organisations that just can't afford the investment of buying solar panels. The Californian startup Mosaic aims to change this. Their mission is to make solar an accessible and a viable option for everyone. Mosaic is a solar lending platform that connects individuals and organisations with certified solar contractors and provides loans that cover the cost of both the solar panels and the installation.
Two graphs from Mosaic's website.
From the graphs above we can see how the electricity prices are increasing (left graph) while the solar prices have decreased substantially since 1979 (right graph). Mosaic's main message here is that consumers have an opportunity to invest in solar and reduce their energy bills.
Vandebron is a startup and a platform from the Netherlands that arranges so that people can buy energy from independent producers such as farmers with wind turbines or solar panels. The idea behind the platform is to connect people with a surplus of energy with people who are interested in buying sustainable energy directly from the source.
"The sharing economy is coming to the power industry. In the future, we may buy energy from each other, just as we now rent homes from each other on Airbnb." Ben Schiller, Fast Company.
Both consumers and producers can benefit from this solution according to Fast Company. Consumers can save money because they don't need to pay the fee that utilities charge for passing on the power, they only need to pay the price that the producers set. Producers, on the other hand, get a more favourable price per unit because the middle man, the utility company, is being cut out of the equation.
Tesla Reveals the Powerwall from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.
The problem with clean energy solutions like wind and solar is that it's difficult to store excess energy. This problem has for a long time prevented green energy from becoming a practical and dependable solution when the sun is not shining or when the wind is not blowing. Tesla's innovation the Powerwall might change this. It's a home battery that charges using electricity from roof-top solar panels. This means that you can store the solar energy that's been generated during the day, and then use it later in the evening or during the night. The Powerwall enables individuals to become more independent from the utility grid, and another benefit is that it can work as an emergency backup in the event of power outage.
Another fascinating innovation is the solar roof which Tesla have developed together with SolarCity. The purpose of their new product is according to Elon Musk to make solar panels as attractive as electric cars have become and more importantly to further accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy. Check out this video where Musk talks about solar roof.
The energy industry is going through a massive shift that's driven by green energy solutions and new energy policies such as Germany's Energiwende. Another force that will have a big impact on the energy sector is the sharing economy which is enabling individuals and small organisations to become producers of energy instead of just being consumers, and as a result, more and more people will become independent from the utility grid.
Moreover, the utilities sector are at risk of being disrupted as digital peer-to-peer platforms such as Vandebron cuts out the middle man and seamlessly connects green energy producers directly with those in need of energy.
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