By Geir Arne Solheim
There are millions of people around the world who are burning for the cause of green and renewable energy. These environmentalists have seen the long term effects of polluting energy sources.
Therefore, they spend a lot of time and effort on trying to talk sense into their elected politicians, in hopes of making them speed up decisions on low carbon solutions. The problem is that neither of these groups of people can do anything about the core issue, namely to supply the market with vast amounts of clean energy in a cost effective way. Environmentalists and politicians can choose between being supporters or opponents (politicians can even choose to be indifferent), but they will be bystanders forever.
Green Revolution Technology
So who holds the key to a greener tomorrow? In my opinion, they are the small inventive green tech companies and their visionary entrepreneurs. Many of these small companies and entrepreneurs share the same passion for developing new technology as many environmentalists do for taking care of Mother Nature. Even some politicians believe in a greener tomorrow, but lack the tools and the technology to do something about it.
The problem in today’s world order is that big companies, the most often polluters, are given the task of developing the new and green technologies. And that work isn’t going too well nor too fast. The general opinion is, for example, that Statoil’s Hywind project is the solution for marine renewable energy. But where do you think Statoil’s heart really lies? Is it in green renewables or in oil and gas?
I believe we need a revolution to see some real changes in the world’s energy production. We need new voices, new tools, and a new agenda. This revolution can be triggered by simple mechanisms within the democratic voting system: We couple environmentalists with small green tech companies and their visionary entrepreneurs. Then we show the few green politicians that these small companies and their entrepreneurs have the right motivation and the heart to make complete industrial value chains. Finally, we make some change by introducing new and effective renewable energy systems. Politicians will be able to win elections on these green tech systems by triggering the millions of environmentalists and will be able to build their countries upon these new energy technologies. In other words, to see some real change, we simply should provide politicians the tools and the votes.
Renewable energy companies and entrepreneurs
This is all well, but the challenge is to identify and unite the small companies and their visionary entrepreneurs with the best ideas. We need to make a solid tool box to make the world go green. We, unfortunately, have too few who are big in renewables today, so neither the environmentalists nor the politicians can fight for one strong cause. It’s almost impossible to to identify these companies and entrepreneurs. We have to look for the visionary entrepreneurs in these companies who are determined to find the right solutions on tomorrow’s green tech solutions.
We need people with the right motivation to become the driving force behind green technology. We have great philanthropists in other sectors, such as Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson, who make a big difference. Let’s gather entrepreneurs with the biggest motivation on green tech in a similar way – not the richest, but the smartest ones!
We certainly put our faith in other people to make the right decisions every day – the airline pilot, the teacher, the mother. So why can’t we put our faith in our smart and visionary green tech entrepreneurs when it comes to solving tomorrow’s power supply? We certainly don’t let the train driver drive the plane for obvious reasons, so why do we put our trust in the oil companies to develop the low carbon solutions that in fact undermines their own high carbon solutions?
Environmental technology
To start the green revolution and to make some real change, we have to unite the world’s green entrepreneurs whose hearts genuinely burn for the cause of renewable energy and give them trust and opportunity. Let the low carbon society be our cause, let green technologies be our weapons, and let the green entrepreneurs be our voices in the revolution!
