interactive site
Warren Buffett once quipped that the best way to profit from the birth of the car 100 years ago would have been to short the horse.
In a world of cleantech disruptive innovation, there are plenty of horses to choose from.
Head of Sustainable Research Charles Yonts provides an indepth analysis on how solar and storage will scorch incumbents in a number of sectors in his Sunburned report, available exclusively to CLSA clients.
Solar heading below transmission costs
As solar panels end up on more rooftops, the owners of those roofs buy less power from the grid. Therein, we enter a vicious cycle dubbed the utility death spiral.
Rooftop solar is especially disruptive and has already reached economic competitiveness in key markets worldwide, with most global markets set for grid parity within two to three years.
Of course, this only holds true when the sun shines, leaving consumers with no credible economic alternative to the grid. But that is changing as energy storage embarks on a similar cost curve to solar.
Solar panel costs have fallen 97% since 1980
Set to replace electricity generation/transmission
CLSA U guest author and MIT Professor Donald Sadoway believes developing a storage system beyond lithium-ion is necessary if one wants to unlock the value of battery-powered cars and renewable energy.
Liquid-metal technology (LMT) is an inexpensive, incredibly efficient grid-size battery that stores energy using a three-layer liquid-metal core, comprised of two liquid metals and a molten salt electrolyte.
LMT is as cost competitive as hydro-pumps and retains even higher electricity, needs no dams, and thus can be used in metropolitan locations.
Time to kick that old motor to the kerb?
Over the next decade, electric vehicles and self-driving cars will revolutionise the auto industry. The pressure is coming from tech-based firms that have no legacy attachments to the old way of doing things, led by outsiders such as Tesla and Google. But Rome wasn’t built in a day and these changes will occur in stages.
Mobility on demand will change many industries
With software now a major catalyst of change, leadership in the auto industry could be challenged by auto suppliers and IT companies like Google.
As Moore's Law takes hold of advancement in the automotive industry, smart cars will become the norm, traditional concepts of drive, deliver, refuel and park will be a thing of the past, and in its place will emerge a new concept known as mobility on demand.
Robots don’t drink
1.2m people die because of car accidents every year 40% of fatalities are related to drinking
Car accidents cost the USA alone US$871bn, or 9% of GDP
Connected 3D vehicle technology promises better use of road space
Driving takes up over 20% of an average person's working time
Journeys better spent reading, surfing the web, watching a film or chatting face-to-face
Provides disabled and elderly people who cannot drive access to convenient transport
