Graph of the Day: The energy revolution, in real life

Today’s Graph of the Day come from our friends at Cleantechnica.

Throughout history, there have been times when the introduction of technology met the needs of the public and a fundamental shift was set in motion. This has been the case with the steam engine, the automobile, the telephone, the computer, the internet … just to name a few.

While all of these technology-driven structural changes had huge macro-economic benefits, they were not beneficial for every one. Especially those with business models that used to provide similar, but inferior, services faced marginalization or even extinction. This process was sometimes painful, but usually not a loss.

When policy incentives led to the construction of the first railroads, and trains began to connect cities and centers of commerce, the carriage lobby famously spread the rumor that traveling faster than 30 mph would be unhealthy (possibly deadly).

Today, we are witnessing a similar — probably even more significant — historic structural change. The resistance by vested interests is obviously fierce, since this change threatens the most profitable business model of the world — the hunting, gathering, and distribution of fossil fuels. As a consequence, the disinformation against this change is well organized, though it is as ridiculous as always….

To illustrate one aspect of this fundamental shift, as it is happening in Germany, I’ve designed this little infographic on the impact of solar energy deployment.

This Graph of the Day was originally published at Cleantechnica