David Steven Jacoby

David Steven Jacoby spoke with Energy.Media as the CEO of Boston Strategies International, a world leader in energy technology solutions for clean supply chains. As one of the world’s leading supply chain economists, David has applied his expertise to the challenge of how to expand the use of renewable energy.

In this episode, David discusses the energy industry’s movement toward a tipping point where changes in the supply chain have the potential to start driving demand for renewable energy to new heights:

• The sector has traditionally relied on large-scale supply networks in which utility-sized power plants use transmission systems to transport large amounts of electricity across long distances to local markets, which then use distribution systems to deliver smaller volumes to individual customers. These systems are capital-intensive and lack flexibility.
• Improvements in renewable energy technologies – including new types of solar power generation, hydrogen fuel cells, and battery storage – promise to upend the traditional model. They allow consumers to install as much upstream generating and storage capacity as they want on site, without first establishing connections to large-scale transmission and distribution grids or investing in specialized equipment.
• Like electronic devices, renewable energy generation units are likely to get smaller and more efficient over time. This means practically anything can become a distributed source of power, including consumer goods, vehicles, and buildings.