Category Archives: Technological

Two ways to adapt to post-oil

Yesterday’s story about how the IMF foresees a doubling in the real price of oil by 2022, and the consequent urgent need to adapt or redesign our business models, might have raised a few eyebrows. So here are two stories … Continue reading

Posted in Airlines, Energy, Energy / Environmental, IndustryCompetition, Oil, Renewable energy, Technological, Transport | Leave a comment

The Future of Oil: “Geology versus Technology”

The IMF has just published a working paper on the future price of oil. It concludes that: a) the price of oil in real terms will most likely double over the next ten years, and b) there is a large … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Energy / Environmental, Oil, Paradigms, Peak Oil, Technological | Leave a comment

Top issues in the global ‘water sector’

In January this year Deloitte published a short but seemingly comprehensive overview of the key upcoming issues in the global water sector. Although 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, the report is focused on the … Continue reading

Posted in Resources, Social, Technological, Water | Leave a comment

Big Picture — December 2011

When the managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, issues warnings like this: “There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not … Continue reading

Posted in Big Picture, Energy / Environmental, IndustryCompetition, New Entrants, Paradigms, Political/Economic, Social, Suppliers, Technological | Leave a comment

Renewable energy investment finally passes fossil fuels

The amount of investment in renewable energy has passed that in fossil fuels for the first time. Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, Energy / Environmental, Renewable energy, Technological | Leave a comment

The next agro-industrial revolution

The Earth is full and over the past ten years increasing demand from emerging markets has erased all the resource-price declines of the last century. A new report from McKinsey says three key trends look set to make this situation more difficult … Continue reading

Posted in Economic, Energy, Energy / Environmental, Environmental, Food, Paradigms, Resources, Shift to emerging economies, Social | Leave a comment

Solution to the eurozone crisis: treat the people as the priority

New US unemployment figures are at a seven month low, adding to the view that the American economy is strengthening. But in Europe the crisis is deepening.

Posted in Defence, Economic, Energy / Environmental, EurozoneCrisis, Fraud, IndustryCompetition, Paradigms, Political/Economic, Renewable energy, Technological | Leave a comment

Innovation in money and music (and agriculture)

In the third quarter this year, as prices fell, central banks made their largest purchases of gold for 40 years. The buying was led by the central banks of emerging countries such as Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea. The value … Continue reading

Posted in China, China, Defence, Economic, Energy / Environmental, Gold, Money, New Entrants, Paradigms, Political/Economic, Technological | 1 Comment

Solar power nears “tipping point”

Falling subsidies by European governments (Italy, for example, is currently the world’s second largest solar market) has left production capacity of 30GW chasing demand for 18GW of panels this year. As a result, prices are falling. Installed cost is already … Continue reading

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Drivers of change

Chris Luebkeman, Director of Global Innovation and Foresight at Arup, talks about some of the key drivers of change in our world: Key drivers of change that he mentions, to varying levels of detail, include: Congestion Genetic screening Sea level … Continue reading

Posted in Economic, Energy, Energy / Environmental, Environmental, Political/Economic, Social, Technological | Leave a comment