Original 2021 statement: Solar power generation is growing faster than any other form of energy
What Jim has written about this
From “Daily Inspiration: “Half of the world’s population is under the age of 25. More than any other generation, they understand the power of collective collaboration.”” (February 2018)
“Half of the world’s population is under the age of 25. More than any other generation, they understand the power of collective collaboration. They are our hope for a smarter world!” - Futurist Jim Carroll
Today’s youngest generation is globally wired, entrepreneurial, collaborative, change oriented. They are now driving rapid business model change, and industry transformation as they move into executive positions, wielding the power of connectivity to shape everything they touch.
And today’s 18 year old is the post 9-11 generation. They understand the power of the online, social world. They know how to mobilize and shape opinion. They are aware of the abuses of technology by their forebears. And they seem to be quickly taking matters into their own hands when it comes to the world that tey prefer to shape.
From “Trend: The Future of Energy” (April 2012)
Consider the latter point. In some areas of the US, there is significant pushback against the implementation of smart meter technology — 47 cities and counties have adopted resolutions opposing smart meters for various reasons. At the other extreme, there are some areas where people are impatient with the pace of adoption of alternative technologies. In Boulder Colorado, there is a citizen inspired initiative to take over local power generation because of a belief that Xcel Energy is not moving fast enough with green and smart energy tech!
Big ideas lead to big opportunities - I spoke about the Gemasolar plant outside Villanueva del Ray in southern Spain — the world’s first 24 hour solar power plant. It involves a unique molton-salt heat storage system that solves one of the key problems with alternative energy : how to storage generated power so that it can be used at off peak periods. The slide from my deck tells it all: this was a big, bold project.
Think about it: this is the XBOX generation! They’ve grown up in a world of instant rewards for activity. In Call of Duty, you get a series of continual rewards based on actions. The same type of thing will happen with power consumption — if you use the technology that surrounds your personal energy infrastructure, you’ll get a cost reduction.
From “Megatrends One Year Later – #7: Energy Decentralization – What I Predicted, and What’s Actually Happening” (August 2026)
Part of what I wrote: For decades, our model has been simple: massive, centralized power stations push electricity in one direction to passive consumers. That era is decisively ending. We are witnessing a fundamental shift from a one-way delivery monologue to a multi-directional energy dialogue. The power plant of the future is no longer a distant smokestack; it’s the solar panels on your roof, the battery in your garage, and the smart devices throughout your home.
So is the home really becoming a power plant? Yes — and 2026 backs it up. Solar and storage now make up 79% of all newly planned US generation capacity, and California just let aggregated home batteries and EVs count as grid resource-adequacy capacity — a policy admission that the “prosumer” is now infrastructure. Virtual power plants, already a multi-billion-dollar market compounding above 20% a year, are the software stitching thousands of those batteries into one dispatchable resource.
Verdict: Nailed it on the direction — the grid bottleneck arrived right when I warned it would. Generation, storage and resilience are all ahead of my timeline. The prosumer showed up faster than the wires built to trade with them.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Daily Inspiration: “Half of the world’s population is under the age of 25. More than any other generation, they understand the power of collective collaboration.”
Trend: The Future of Energy
Megatrends One Year Later – #7: Energy Decentralization – What I Predicted, and What’s Actually Happening