Renewable energy – the fourth revolution ahead of us

I do 100% believe in the energy supply of our future being all renewable and would have started a business in the (renewable) energy sector long ago, If I wasn’t totally committed to drive the #BeerRevolution forward. This “Energy is the new internet” article on Techcrunch is a great wake-up call to entrepreneurs showing some of the massive opportunities ahead. If you don’t prepare for a future with decentralized, renewable energy powering homes, businesses and self driving autonomous electric vehicles, you are definitely not prepared for the future ahead! There are as many nay-sayers, fossil-heads and nuclear believers today, as there were print-media lobbyists and brick and mortar believers 20 years ago and look at the ashes of their remains today. If you don’t believe the skeptics, but put your full force behind the energy revolution taking place right now and execute well, you can start building a future world leader in that exciting new sector from your garage starting today.

I don’t blog often, so what gets me to put this opinion piece up, that got nothing to do with beer? Every here and then I happen to discuss this topic with friends and acquaintances and people are usually just surprised about my passion for renewables as I am surprised to see how few people are aware of this massive opportunity ahead of us. Being born and raised German I always assumed solar must be much bigger elsewhere until I left Germany for sunnier destinations and realized, that my home country was by far the biggest solar market worldwide!

Since 2001 I’m invested in some wind and solar projects through the GLS bank (a visionary german cooperative bank focused on sustainability and ethics, led by my uncle Thomas Jorberg, who already drove around in electric vehicles 20 years ago), but I never managed to start a business of my own in the category.

In 2012 a friend acquired online rights to the incredible 2010 ‘The 4th revolution – EnergyAutonomy” movie, that featured Elon Musk, Hermann Scheer, Muhammad Yunus, and gives a convincing vision of a full switch to a renewable future for the whole world. We started conceptualizing the worldwide free online launch in the style of a grassroots campaign based on the mechanisms successfully demonstrated by the Kony 2012 campaign a few months prior to that. But my focus changed, no international approach was chosen and the ‘free’ donation based release never got traction, even though 90% of the video material was ready for international viewers, using a new speaker. Despite repeatedly attending the Clean Power Africa show at the African Utility Week, my focus changed onto my Beerhouse venture, where electricity only plays a role to serve the beer chilled down to the perfect drinking temperature. While living in Germany with the deregulated electricity market I always switched to an all-renewable-supplier like EWS-Schönau, but customers in monopolized markets like South Africa need need to build their own supply. I hope to soon use the solar crowdfunding platform The Sun Exchange, whose pitch won best of show award at Finance Indaba 2016, just before I spoke about equity crowdfunding to fund the solar installations that I hope to soon build on top of the roofs of my three current Beerhouse outlets and serve more solar cooled beers, as we open more branches around the country…

And how fitting is this song from the soundtrack? ‘Have you ever?‘ by Bukahara Trio! Lyrics below the video.

Have you ever heard about the book I read,
the book about a man who was thinking ahead.
Have you ever heard about the movie I saw,
a movie ’bout the people who open the door.
A movie ’bout the people who open the door.
Have you ever heard about the guy who came,
to tell me about the man who tried to change the game.
Have you ever heard about the girl I knew,
when there she said to me this man could be you.
When there she said to me this man could be you.
She said:
You’re not the only one who feels this way.
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Oh she said:
You’re not the only one try to live this way behind.
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Have you ever thought about the life you live,
a life in which you have so much to give.
Have you ever thought about the way you exist,
the way that only told you how to resist.
A way that only told you how to resist.
Oh she said:
You’re not the only one who feels this way.
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Oh she said:
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Bridge
Have you ever thought about the people,
who say that there is only one right way.
Have you ever thought about how it would be,
if we were the majority.
If we were the majority.
Oh she said:
You’re not the only one who feels this way.
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Yeah down… oh she said:
You’re not the only one who tried to live this way behind.
Yeah. ‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Oh she said:
You’re not the only one who feels this way.
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
And she said:
You’re not the only one who tried to live this way behind. Yeah.
‘Cause there are so many people like you.
Yeah she said:
There are so many people like you.
Yeah… oh she said:
There are so many people like you.
Oh she said:
There are so many people like you