Planned and managed transformation programs will become necessary in order to run Global Energy Transformation.

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We now need to spend more time discussing the solution than the problem. The solution, however, does not lie in the realm of sustainability or pollution. The solution will be found in the systematic and large scale development and implementation of new clean technologies and renewable fuels. It is unlikely that the people who have become experts in areas related to sustainability, and who are now dominating this field, will be able to make the right decisions, or manage and finance the large scale energy systems transformation projects of the near future. From now on we need strong voices, rooted in the principles of business and management of technology at various levels that analyze, forge, and debate the principles that will guide Global Energy Transformation.

The energy transformation challenge is the biggest challenge that mankind is facing right now. We need increasing volumes of energy in order to fuel the global economy and facilitate economic growth and continued affluence on this planet. This issue has emerged over the past few years and it is clearly more pressing than the need to reduce pollution. This is because we will hardly be able to master the huge investments in the development and implementation of clean energy technologies without economic growth and an overall positive trend in the global marketplace.

Despite this extreme challenge we find that business development and technology management related to the energy transformation are given a back-ground position when the future of business and of our economy is discussed in the media. As an example the Swedish business weekly Veckans Affärer in issue no. four of 2011 has identified 101 young “super talents” in Swedish business. None of them apply their talents in the areas of energy technology management or in energy business. As number five on the list there is a young professor from the Royal Technical University (KTH) in Stockholm. She is portrayed with the quote “The dream is a home robot.” Number 20 produces women’s fashion the style of the classic Swedish “lovikavante,” a glove that has never been out of fashion, but never very fashionable either, and number 28 has started a company selling wigs. Number ten is Lena Bertling a professor at Chalmers Technical University, who is studying sustainable power systems. She is the only person profiled with a link to energy technology. Again, there are no super talents that are working with the immensely important management issues of transforming global energy systems on a large scale!

Starting in the next few years we will experience an annual decline in the oil supply of between one and three million barrels of oil per day, every year. We use, on a global scale, 86 million barrels of oil every day, and by 2015 it is possible that the volumes supplied have decreased to well below 80 barrels per day. A sustained small annual decline in the area of one per cent, representing close to one million barrels per day every year would be a rather pleasant surprise for the people who have studied Peak Oil. More likely we will need to increase production volumes of renewable fuels and reduce our dependence on energy by substantially more than one million barrels per day only to maintain our global economic activity at the present level. It is not that we need to abandon all hope of a good life in the future with household robots, wigs, breast implants, and silly reality shows. It is only that we need to understand that in order to maintain all these hopes and dreams we need to develop and implement huge volumes of renewable fuel technologies, and renewable fuels, in the near future. This, again, will be the big challenge for our business and technology management super talents in the years to come.

We need not only our young business talents, but business talents of all ages, to turn their attention to energy related issues. A positive signal, showing more insight into the developments on the global business scene than the article in Veckans Affärer, comes from President Obama. Last week he appointed Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, to become his chief economic adviser after Paul Volcker. Mr. Immelt has been a strong advocate of the development of clean technology. During his time as CEO of GE he has started the project Ecomagination, which started by investing 400 million dollars annually in the development of green technologies, and accelerated this to an annual investment of 1 billion dollars. He has also, together with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, venture capitalist John Doerr, and a number of other high level managers of large US companies, started the organization American Energy Innovation Council (www.americanenergyinnovation.org). The appointment of Jeffrey Immelt indicates that energy transformation and green technology are high on the political agenda in the United States.

The list of super talents in Veckans Affärer indicates that someone, and probably a lot of people on the eastern shore of the Atlantic Ocean, have got their priorities badly wrong. Most worrying may not be the list itself, but rather the lack of reaction among the readers of Veckans Affärer, and among journalists and people who debate energy and sustainability issues that there is something deeply flawed in the way that the energy transformation is handled in our society at this important point in time. We need to put every effort into energy transformation, and yet we laud the opportunities of household robots, wigs, and fashion based on the ancient patterns of “lovikagloves.” Most of all, we need business people and experts in disciplines related to the management of technology to turn their attention to the management issues related to Global Energy Transformation.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/economy/22obama.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Jeff%20Immelt&st=cse

The appointment can also be interpreted as a preparation for large scale energy systems transformation. Mr. Immelt has been one of the key individuals behind the organization American Energy Innovation Council (www.americanenergyinnovation.org) that in mid-2010 published a five point program for large scale transformation of the energy systems of the United States. The first point on the five-point list is the establishment of an independent national energy strategy board.

While Mr. Immelt has been an advocate for the strengthening of American competitiveness, the large scale implementation of renewable energy systems and energy efficient technologies, and the development of a national strategy to achieve this, have been central themes in his communication.

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Regardless, there is still a need to focus efforts on the development of renewable fuels on a large scale. In addition we need to reduce our use on energy in order to cope with reduced supplies of oil in the near future.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/02/obama-offers-8-billion-in-push-for-nuclear-power.html

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/opinion/09tue1.html

Global Energy Transformation Institute exists to communicate that we need focused and adequately financed programs for the development and large scale implementation of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies.

Also, “game changing” technologies would be very welcome in energy related sectors of the economy.

This need is urgent and the urgency will increase as we move forward past the global peak in oil production.

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