September 7th, 2010
Cleantech Revolution vs. Financial Engineering and the old S-Word
As you move from the fossil fuel past to the hydrogen convergence future, your success will hinge on the battle between the cleantech revolution and financial engineering. It’s really not about right track versus wrong track or the potential threat from socialism as the Sunday morning commentators would say.
The philosophy of financial engineering argues that all of the economic woes in the United States can be cured by some form of financial slight of hand like tax cuts or austerity measures. Buried in this world view is a desire to stay rich with little or no effort. We at the ebTDesign Forum would suggest to you that the real solutions are associated with jobs and free market forces like globalization.
The ghosts of Smoot-Hawley (the people who died as a result of the passage of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and the ensuing Great Depression) remind us that globalization isn’t irreversible. They knew first hand what happens when the ties that bind the world’s economies together loosen and opportunistic politicians say “everyone for themselves.”
Confounders on the Sunday talk shows like to invoke the “old S-Word” or socialism to scare working and middle class Americans into inaction. However, we would suggest that you shift your focus and think in terms of the “new S-Word” which is sustainability. Because, it is sustainability and equity that will allow Americans to form a more perfect union and stay competitive in these changing times.
It took a decade and the Great Recession before the talking heads realized something had change. Most still haven’t recognized that the world’s economies have entered into a post-Globalization transition period. So, you can’t expect them to see the need for a cleantech revolution or how hydrogen convergence binds it all together. It would however make the transition a whole lot easier.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: Great-Depression, hydrogen, post-Globalization, S-Word, smoot-hawleyJune 8th, 2010
Once again, Can the DOE be Trusted with Hydrogen Convergence?
Reports are starting to trickle in about the DOE’s bias against hydrogen fuel cell innovation and for electric vehicles (EV). This is a time when the DOE is supposed to be evaluating the advances of hydrogen convergence. However, some feel that the DOE has taken this opportunity to advocate the benefits of battery powered electric vehicles (EV).
As loyal readers and social media followers know, hydrogen convergence is the next long wave. It the first post-Globalization industrial movement and will shape the economic landscape for decades to come. The fossil fuel era (previous techno-economic event) lasted for roughly a century. So it is easily conceivable that hydrogen convergence could do the same.
Given the track record of the DOE on hydrogen convergence, the question has to be asked. Does the DOE have the necessary resources and commitment to manage development and eventual commercialization of hydrogen infrastructure? Can it be trusted to do what’s necessary to ensure that the economic interests of the American people are well served?
Is it time to move responsibility for hydrogen convergence to a separate agency within the federal government? Hydrogen innovation may find a better home in the Department of Commerce (DOC) or at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Research funding is the life blood of competitiveness. However, commercialization is the muscle which moves an economy into the future and produces sustainable job growth.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: commercialization, DOC, DOE, hydrogen, NSF, post-GlobalizationMay 17th, 2010
How important is Hydrogen Convergence to Youth Entrepreneurship?
Readers and social media followers of the ebTDesign Forum are encouraged to read “Young World Rising” about youth entrepreneurship. This book describes the post-Globalization landscape from the viewpoint of the current “net generation.” It provides a very good account of where youth entrepreneurship stands at the start of the hydrogen convergence process or the next long wave.
However, the challenge for many community leaders and industry pioneers in the hydrogen convergence colonies is how do you engage young entrepreneurs. No single group has a greater potential for enjoying the benefits of hydrogen convergence than young people in OECD countries. Young people in industrialized countries cannot build a bright future competing solely on cost because the relative cost of living is much higher in the regions where they reside.
We at the ebTDesign Forum suggest that hydrogen convergence provides the best opportunity for these developing young entrepreneurs. The transition from one long wave to another results in creative destruction. As the world economy moves from fossil dependence to hydrogen convergence dominance many mature companies will be lost. Creative destruction is by definition a process that levels the playing field. All bets are off and possibilities exist for new leaders to emerge.
Young entrepreneurs and young people in general must build their future on this post-Globalization landscape. They should be informed that before the current “net generation” companies could find success a substantial amount of infrastructure had to be developed and deployed. The need for vast amounts hydrogen infrastructure provides an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs with bright ideas for taming this wild new frontier.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: entrepreneurship, hydrogen, OECD, post-GlobalizationApril 2nd, 2010
Announcing New Energy Security Segment for Lets Talk Podcast
We at the ebTDesign Forum are proud to announce the addition of a new monthly audio segment to the Let’s Talk Hydrogen Convergence Podcast. This segment will be called, “Ensuring Energy Security in the post-Globalization marketplace.” We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise readers and social media followers that it is time to ask the tough questions.
In this new segment we will ask questions like, “Is the DOE capable of meeting the challenges of climate instability and helping the United States maintain its current standing in the post-Globalization marketplace or is it time to completely overhaul the department and how Americans think about energy security?”
Your help would be deeply appreciated in developing topics for this new segment. What are your concerns? What are you reading to help stay informed about current energy security events? And third, what’s not being covered by the mainstream media. We look forward to you joining in the discovery process and helping us focus the energy security conversation.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: energy security, hydrogen, post-GlobalizationMarch 26th, 2010
Promoting Hydrogen Convergence via Small Exporters
During the debate over healthcare, the plight of small exporters was ignored. Small exporters represent America’s number one source for export related jobs. We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise readers and social media followers that small exporters are an important stakeholder in insuring sustainable job growth.
Small exporters compete against the best in the world for success in the post-Globalization marketplace. In order for them to do this, they must attract highly motivated workers willing to take a chance. Being able to provide healthcare will help but hydrogen convergence will help more.
Hydrogen Convergence will provide small exporters access to the next long wave and a guarantee of sustainable job growth. These same small exporters will provide hydrogen convergence with a conduit for selling American goods and services in the post-Globalization marketplace. Because of their numbers, they will also help place America on a more entrepreneurial footing.
Small exporters, if successfully engaged, could prove a significant enabler of America’s hydrogen convergence future. They would act a place holder for market expansion both internationally and domestically. Readers and social media followers are reminded that success in America is almost never about initial resources and almost always about heart. It was true during the Revolutionary War, during World War II and it is true today.
At Webster University’s B-School, we had a saying “outgunned, out spent, out educated but never out motivated.” Small exporters embody this sentiment. They take on the big cartels and sovereign growth funds for a living. They remind us that the fight for America’s freedom during World War II was powered by share croppers, tenet farmers and women who had never held an industrial job.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: entrepreneurial-footing, hydrogen, post-Globalization, small exportersMarch 15th, 2010
Avoiding Protectionism via Hydrogen Convergence
This weekend the mainstream media was all abuzz about Senator Chuck Schumer’s decision to support stronger “Buy American” protection for stimulus funding. They condemned the act as misguided. We at the ebTDesign Forum would suggest that it is simply misdirected. Further, we propose that the American people would be better served by increasing investment in hydrogen convergence.
Many times in the past we at the ebTDesign Forum have subjected current events to the lessons learned from the Great Depression. We have invoked the phrase “Ghosts of Smoot-Hawley” to ask the question, “Knowing what we know now about protectionism and its P2P Economy impact would we make this decision?” The answer is a resounding no. It does not adhere to American Ideals.
The days of using American wealth to coerce other countries into following our lead is over for all but the poorest countries. The political will for using tax dollars in this manner is definitely over. Post-Globalization, the United States has to lead based on its values. This includes a belief in free and open competition also a willingness to allow markets to take their course.
The United States has already lost its leadership position in the wind and solar industries. Any effort that would distort these markets is misdirected. We at the ebTDesign Forum propose that a better solution would be heavier investment in hydrogen convergence because we still hold a leadership position because of our R&D community. To do otherwise will set us on a path to repeat the mistakes that led to the Great Depression and to so much hardship worldwide.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: American Ideals, hydrogen, post-Globalization, smoot-hawleyMarch 3rd, 2010
Hydrogen Convergence via Innovation-Infrastructure
Earlier this week, we at the ebTDesign Forum proposed a timeline for massive carbon reduction using hydrogen convergence. At the top of that list was the goal of establishing a national innovation-infrastructure for hydrogen convergence by 2012. Many of you may not be familiar with the concept of an innovation-infrastructure and why it is so important to post-Globalization adoption.
An innovation-infrastructure provides a community with peripheral vision or the means of identifying and utilizing bright new ideas from the fringes of the organizational space. Peripheral vision provides human beings with the capability of detecting motion that is outside our general field of view. It is our number one means of triggering flight or fight mechanisms.
Post-Globalization, an innovation-infrastructure provides hydrogen convergence colonies with the necessary feedback loop for navigating the changing investment landscape. An example of why this is so important can be seen in the decision by the DOE to cancel hydrogen projects last year. If the DOE had had a functioning innovation-infrastructure, it would have detected the extremely high level of creative activity and known that its goals were being met.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: hydrogen, Innovation-Infrastructure, periphery vision, post-GlobalizationFebruary 24th, 2010
Recognizing Hydrogen Convergence as the Next Long Wave
Some readers and other educators have asked what they should tell young people about how hydrogen convergence will affect their careers. We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise them to view hydrogen convergence as the next long wave. A long wave is a series of industry-related game changing events. Also, inform them that it wasn’t just the dotcom bubble that characterized the last long wave.
The last long wave started in the early 1980’s with the introduction of personal computers. It continued through the 1990’s with the Internet portal wars and into the new millennium with skirmishes over cloud-computing. Those people who jumped on this wave at the beginning saw their earning potential grow with each generation of new technology. They also enjoyed increased respect and influence based on their longevity.
Long waves represent the only operational way of resetting the wage scale. Because of this, national governments often endeavor to impose their will on its trajectory. They pick “national champions” much like the Obama Administration has done with the nuclear power industry. Unfortunately, the post-Globalization marketplace is littered with carcasses of these ill-conceived attempts at financial engineering and business coercion. Such is the case when dinosaurs are overtaken by the next long wave.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: career, hydrogen, long wave, post-GlobalizationFebruary 23rd, 2010
Introducing Bill Gates to the Power of Hydrogen Convergence
Does it matter that Bill Gates doesn’t yet support hydrogen convergence? When the Internet was first commercialized Mr. Gates didn’t get it. He and Microsoft failed to recognize the value of Linux. We at the ebTDesign Forum would suggest that a case could be made that the success of hydrogen convergence is assured by his non-support.
Someone in Bill’s inner circle should remind him of the power of massively-parallel grid computing. We would suggest they recount the impact of P2P technology like the Kazaa Music Player on the music industry and of Skype entering the telecommunication market. This should provide a preview of the gaming changing results that massively-distributed power generation will have on the electricity supply and nuclear power industries.
Post-Globalization, it is nonsensical to believe that working and middle class families will willingly live next to nuclear waste dumps. There was a major hazardous waste spill on one of the highways in the Washington DC area after the last snowstorm. Could you imagine the damage that could have been caused by a similar accident involving nuclear waste?
We at the ebTDesign Forum stick by our observation that the nuclear power industry is on its last legs. We would like to thank Mr. Gates for his service over the years but remind him that he made his fortune with personal computers and by dinosaur hunting. If he wants to change the world, we invite him to join the hydrogen convergence movement. He’ll feel a lot more at home.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: Bill Gates, hydrogen, MDPG, nuclear waste, post-GlobalizationFebruary 22nd, 2010
Preparing Hydrogen Convergence for Davos
There’s an old adage that says you should prepare for what you want to do not for what you are currently doing. We at the ebTDesign Forum want to see the post-Globalization marketplace powered by hydrogen convergence. In order to do that we need to engineer hydrogen convergence so that it can take its place on the world stage. And, there is no bigger stage than the one in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Davos is the best place to do the deals that can rapidly lead to the kind of early investments that will advert climate change and jumpstart the post-Globalization economy. Every January, world leaders and the captains of industry meet to discuss the future of international business. We at the ebTDesign Forum look forward to the time when these politicians and pioneers want to get serious about creating sustainable job growth and hydrogen convergence.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: Davos, hydrogen, post-Globalization, WEFFebruary 21st, 2010
Addressing Downsider concerns about Hydrogen Convergence
As you know, hydrogen convergence is the best way to create sustainable job growth while stopping the “bubble and bust” cycle caused by supply-side economics. Readers and twitter followers who are building their cases for early investment in hydrogen convergence are going to have account for the interests of at least two distinct constituencies. They are the upsiders and the downsiders.
Upsiders have a complex need that they want satisfied. These stakeholders are located in niche markets which are either underserved by the current energy regime or under-participate. They are skeptical of electricity-only solutions and realize that not every business problem can be solved by a government handout or tax cut. Most importantly, they understand that the post-Globalization landscape is new and difficult to navigate.
Downsiders represent the far edge of the mainstream lifecycle. These constituents won’t change until they see that everyone else has changed. Downsiders are fully invested in supply-side economics which is why it is going to take sometime for them to liquidate their mental holdings and change their worldview. Downsiders are concerned about fiscal responsibility and abhor the kind of waste and duplicate effort that leads to innovation.
We at ebTDesign Forum acknowledge that dealing with downsiders may be frustrating but we would advise our readers and twitters followers to engage them because they will eventually change and no market strategy is complete without them. Americans don’t leave their neighbors behind during times of hardships so the concerns of downsiders must be addressed as well as those of the upsiders.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: downsiders, electricity-only, hydrogen, post-Globalization, upsidersFebruary 19th, 2010
How Hydrogen Convergence will obsolete Nuclear Power
There has been a lot buzz surrounding President Barack Obama’s decision to fund new nuclear power plants. Many in the environmental community have become very disheartened at this news. We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise our readers and twitter followers that these new nuclear plants will never be completed because of massively-distributed power generation.
Just before the start of the dotcom era there was a movement to large supercomputers. However with the introduction of massively-parallel grid computing enabled by the Internet, the supercomputer became obsolete overnight. Similarly, a hydrogen convergence “feedback loop” will enable the deployment of massively-distributed power generation. This will obsolete the nuclear power industry, overnight.
The decision to fund nuclear power is a classic example of why supply-side economics doesn’t work any more. From a P2P Economy viewpoint this doesn’t make any sense. Working and middle class Americans are not going to want to raise their children next nuclear waste dumps. The flexibility of massively-distributed power generation and the incremental cost advantage will make investments in nuclear power for other than military purposes nonsensical.
Post-Globalization, we live in an era of more direct democracy. Once working and middle class Americans are presented with a P2P Economy sensitive solution based on hydrogen convergence, there will be numerous ballet initiatives that will outlaw the storage of new nuclear waste and the building of nuclear power plants. Overnight, the nuclear power era will finally come to an end.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: feedback loop, hydrogen, MDPG, Obama, post-GlobalizationJanuary 27th, 2010
Hydrogen Convergence of Internet Scale Applications
During the dotcom boom, there was a special kind of distributed application that could handle millions of online simultaneous users. This kind of service was dubbed an “internet scale application” by those of us who built the infrastructure for them. It required a different kind of network thinking and a willingness to try things that had never been tried before.
We at the ebTDesign Forum suggest that hydrogen convergence will need the same level of design and engineering effort. Further, we propose that the companies which pioneered the Internet Scale Applications have provided us with models for rapidly deploying game-changing infrastructure. They have also shown us the sand traps where investment dollars can get lost.
Yesterday’s Internet mavericks like AOL, Netscape, and Yahoo gave way to today’s giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Today’s icons of American innovation will undoubtedly pass the torch to tomorrow’s hydrogen infrastructure success stories. It is a part of the post-Globalization transition that will produce the next wave of sustainable job growth.
These new stewards of the “internet scale mindset” will need to solve the challenges associated with hydrogen convergence of the national highway system, the international air transport system and global maritime operations. They will be honored with the task of restoring the possibility for achieving the American Dream and living American Ideals. Just like those who have come before them.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: American Ideals, hydrogen, post-GlobalizationJanuary 25th, 2010
Electricity usage after Hydrogen Convergence
Many of the people we talk to about hydrogen convergence ask us about what will happen to electricity after hydrogen convergence. The answer is that electricity will become the Internet equivalent of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. It will be used inside buildings and cars but it will no longer be used for long-haul energy distribution.
As readers of the ebTDesign Forum and twitter followers know, the electricity supply industry is a highly regulated industry. At the Federal level, there is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and each individual state has its own electricity oversight bureaucracy. This means that any new innovation must first clear political hurdles before it can be sold to consumers.
Hydrogen Convergence on the other hand is an unregulated market which means that buyers and sellers are allowed to exchange value without government intervention. New hydrogen applications and production enhancements will flow to where they are most wanted without the need to hire a lobbyist or wait for a decade while the decision works its way through the courts.
Enterprising entrepreneurs will no doubt find ways of extricating themselves from the regulated electricity supply industry and stake their hydrogen convergence claims on the post-Globalization frontier. Once the direct and indirect subsidies for big coal are reduced, then the profitability of the electricity supply industry will evaporate so will its dominance.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: hydrogen, post-Globalization, unregulated marketJanuary 20th, 2010
Hydrogen Convergence via Small Town Sea Turtles
As long time readers know, we at the ebTDesign Forum are big fans of the sea turtle concept employed by the Chinese. Young Chinese nationals go overseas for education and then return home to raise families. We at the ebTDesign Forum propose using this same strategy to reinvigorate rural communities.
The United States has outstanding research universities and other educational opportunities in our large cities. So there is a natural internal migration that takes place with many young adults. The problem has always been how to entice these young people to return home to raise families.
At the ebTDesign Forum, we suggest the answer is hydrogen convergence. Assuming reduced dependence on foreign oil will free up monies for deployment of high-speed Internet access, small town sea turtles could continue their careers and contribute to America’s success in the post-Globalization marketplace.
Like the frontier of the late 1800’s, rural communities need the skills and energy that young families can bring with them when they return. These young adults will benefit in the long run from the slower pace of life and more time to spend with their families. They will also thrive on the economic spillover from hydrogen convergence and once again be allowed to live American Ideals.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: American Ideals, hydrogen, post-Globalization, sea turtlesJanuary 18th, 2010
Why Americans need New Hydrogen Convergence Jobs
Many readers who have just learned of the hydrogen convergence movement ask why America needs hydrogen convergence jobs. They want to know why early investment in the GreenTech Sector is so important. Prudence would suggest that the United States wait to until things pan out before committing. The answer is avoidance of “factor price equalization.”
Factor price equalization is the downward pressure placed on wages in industrialized countries by the post-Globalization marketplace. In a multinational market, the means of production like labor will eventually become approximately the same. This helps developing and emerging economies approach the same standard of living as industrialized countries.
Unregulated hydrogen convergence will lead to unrestricted innovation on the same order as the Internet Revolution. This will create new jobs and new industry off-ramps into the GreenTech Sector. The participants in these new occupations will be able to charge a premium for there services.
The new hydrogen convergence jobs will reset the wage scale that factor price equalization has compressed. Whole regions of the country will be able to get off life support and contribute to the success of the United States in the post-Globalization marketplace. The working and middle class in communities that support GreenTech clusters will once again be able to live American Ideals.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: American Ideals, GreenTech, hydrogen, post-GlobalizationJanuary 13th, 2010
Paying Family Farmers to Grow Hydrogen Convergence
The key to the success of the GreenTech Revolution is attacking the direct and indirect subsidies that prop up the oil and coal industry. We at the ebTDesign Forum suggest that there is no bigger indirect subsidy than government agriculture spending. We propose redirecting current oil subsidies to offset the unfair advantage that it enjoys over the hydrogen convergence process.
The indirect subsidies fall into three categories. The first is fossil fuel used in tractors and other farm machinery to work the land. The second is diesel used in trucks and trains that carry foodstuff to market. Finally, bunker fuels used in air transport for carrying goods to foreign markets.
Family farmers could be incentivized for growing hydrogen convergence by providing them with benefits much like rural electrification during the Great Depression. They could receive preferential financing for purchasing tractors and other farm machinery powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Programs could be setup to encourage the leasing of onsite hydrogen production that farmers could then use in their new hydrogen fuel cell products.
Monies could be set aside for modifying existing bio-mass co-opts and new co-opts could be formed to produce local hydrogen from agriculture refuse. This would ensure that no hydrogen divide is created which would undermine the hydrogen convergence process. It would also help save the American Dream for family farmers who are under undue pressure from the post-Globalization marketplace.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: family farmers, fuel cells, GreenTech, hydrogen, post-GlobalizationJanuary 11th, 2010
Advantages of Unregulated Hydrogen Convergence
The biggest threat to the GreenTech Revolution is the regulated nature of the electricity supply industry. Most of the commentators in the mainstream media, don’t realize just how pervasive and insidious the regulatory regime is for electricity. Every attempt at renewable energy innovation and/or electricity market reform has already been stymied for decades.
We at the ebTDesign Forum propose that the only way to make broad changes to the current energy marketplace is to create an unregulated one based on hydrogen convergence. Since the end of the dotcom bubble every strategy for economic turnaround has occurred in a highly regulated market. In fact, hydrogen convergence provides at least the following three advantages: unrestricted innovation, bipartisan support, and attractiveness to foreign direct investment.
There are opportunities for hydrogen convergence in every industry. Hydrogen Convergence has the potential for creating sustainable job growth in industries as diverse as aviation to farming to hospitality and all across the nation. The only category that will separate industrialized countries from poorer ones will be the intensity of their hydrogen innovation efforts.
Unlike “cap and trade”, hydrogen convergence has bipartisan support in the United States Congress. The reason is because every community has the potential for creating its own hydrogen and benefiting from the deployment of local hydrogen infrastructure. Hydrogen Convergence will allow the United States to correct some of the problems caused by the Internet Revolution (i.e., effects of the digital divide).
Infrastructure projects have always been attractive to international investors and hydrogen convergence will be no different. This is going to become more important because foreign direct investment (FDI) will be the glue that holds together the post-Globalization marketplace. Without the potential benefits from FDI, populist movements will substantially undermine attempts at international cooperation. Domestic economies will seek out opportunities for local product substitution rather than purchase them from even the most beloved trading partners.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: digital divide, FDI, GreenTech, hydrogen, post-GlobalizationJanuary 4th, 2010
Made any New Year’s Resolutions for Hydrogen Convergence?
Last year was a watershed year for the emerging GreenTech industry. Secretary Chu forced the entire world to take look at our collective prospects for avoiding climate change and ensuring sustainable job growth. From this crucible of change, the hydrogen convergence movement was born.
As with every New Year, goals must be made and priorities must be set. We at the ebTDesign Forum would like to know what your resolutions are for promoting hydrogen convergence. As you know, hydrogen convergence is the only pro-growth alternative to “cap-and-trade.”
If you are willing to share, we would like to know how we at the ebTDesign Forum can better support your information needs so you may thrive on the post-Globalization frontier. We are planning to promote GreenTech campus entrepreneurship as means of building innovation-infrastructure. We encourage you to let us know if you think that this makes since and invite you to make suggestions.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: GreenTech, hydrogen, Innovation-Infrastructure, post-GlobalizationDecember 14th, 2009
Kauffman Foundation Announces 2010 Economic Bloggers Forum
Could Kansas City, Missouri become the next Mont Pelerin, Switzerland? Long-time readers of the ebTDesign Forum will remember that Mont Pelerin was the site of the meeting hosted by Friedrich Hayek which led to what we now call Globalization. Professor Hayek held this meeting to counter the growing threat posed by the rise of Socialism. He would probably be proud of the Second Annual Economics Bloggers Forum.
Hopefully, this invitation-only event hosted by the Kauffman Foundation will serve as a wake up call for post-Globalization economists. It’s been almost four years since the end of Globalization and many renowned economic practitioners still haven’t recognized the sea change. We at the ebTDesign Forum applaud the Kauffman Foundation for their role in stimulating new ideas, new thinking, and new policies that support entrepreneurship and innovation.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: Innovation, Kauffman Foundation, post-Globalization