Elon Musk: The Edison/Tesla//Ford of the Digital Age -- Part 2

Now I will look at the breakthroughs he is working on in solar energy space exploration and Internet connectivity If you perfer you can read Part 1 here before continuingOne of the issues with or counter arguments about electric cars was that even if the car was not emitting CO2 the source of the electricity used to charge the vehicle wasamp160 Whether it was coal oil or natural gas the electricity generated that was used to charge the car was not carbon neutral though it was on a per vehicle basis much loweramp160 Musk had a vision to solve that completely eliminating fossil fuel useamp160 This is the holy energy grail for the 21st century Eliminating fossil fuels as quickly as possibleSolarCityMusk is the cofounder and largest shareholder in this solar power companyamp160 His cofounder and cousin Lyndon Rive is the CEOamp160 SolarCity installs customized solar energy systems in homes and businesses using a longterm contract to offset the initial investment cost which has been a barrier to wide scale solar panel installation The company generates solar power for its users and then sends excess electricity back to the grid actually lowering costs and the amount of the nonsolar electricity usedThis company allows Musk to provide a suntobattery solution for the worldamp160 Solar power eliminates the need for fossil fuel from any part of the energy equation Solar to generate electricity for charging batteries in cars homes businesses and ultimately at the industrial and utility level when combined with the Powerwall and Powerpack battery systemsamp160 This system can create both DC and AC electricityamp160 It is a fillinthegaps endtoend energy solution so critical for weaning the world from fossil fuel dependency making Musk one of the leading energy entrepreneurs of the 21st century as Rockefeller was more than 100 years agoSpaceXDriven by a vision to colonize Mars Musk launched this company to bring lower cost reusable and ultimately personal space travel to the worldamp160 While landing on Mars is certainly a ways off SpaceX has successfully sent up rockets to the International Space Station hoping to create the worldamp8217s first reusable rockets under a contract with NASAamp160If this happens it would be beyond the dreams of Robert H Goddard who launched the first liquid fuel rocket in 1926amp160 Goddard is generally thought of as the man who ushered in the amp8220Space Ageamp8221amp160 Since Goddard the Space Age has largely been filled with large government space programs and astronomical costs If Musk can successfully initiate reusable rockets for space exploration and in fact set the course for Mars his name will go up with Goddardamp8217s in the pantheon of the greatsSpaceX Global Internet Connectivity ProjectMusk and SpaceX have petitioned the FCC to launch eight prototype satellites in 2016 to test the viability of a new form of satellite Internet connectivityamp160 Muskamp8217s vision is to ultimately have 4000 micro disposable satellites in low orbit to serve most of the worldamp160 Disposable would allow constant technological updatesamp160 Google and Fidelity have invested 1 billion in SpaceX in part for this ventureamp160 This addresses the reality that there are still 3 billion people who do not have Internet connections or more than very slow ones at best It is exactly such technological disruptions that I referred to in my column about the Age of Cable coming to an endShould this vision be realized SpaceX and Musk would ascend into the communications pantheon to join Alexander Graham Bell and othersIn summary Elon Musk is radically altering the automotive energy battery space and communications industriesamp160 Doing any one of these would be considered transformative amp160amp160These are all active businesses underway and growingamp160 I will write about Muskamp8217s vision for Hyper Loop transportation at a future time To this futurist transformative change in each of these industries is exactly what is needed for humanity to both prepare for the positive visions of the future and to avoid the catastrophic reality it is currently backing intoThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage management or associated bloggers

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Elon Musk: The Edison/Tesla//Ford of the Digital Age -- Part 2

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Elon Musk: The Edison/Tesla//Ford of the Digital Age -- Part 2

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