The world’s population will continue to grow, reaching 8.3 billion by 2030 (up from 7.1 billion in 2012). Nations will become older and more urban. All these factors will combine to put pressure on precious resources. “[T]he volume of urban construction for housing, office space, and transport services over the next 40 years could roughly equal the entire volume of such construction to date in world history.” December 13, 2012 at 07:10AM

Smart companies have shown Americans how greener choices can actually save them money in one fell swoop. And the people have spoken: If they can go green and save green, they will. In a recent survey my company Sunrun issued to better understand our customers’ motivations, 9 out of 10 Americans of both voting persuasions said they had made what can be considered ‘green’ changes to their lifestyles over the last five years. Their primary motivator? “Saving money.” The new status symbol isn’t what you own—it’s what you’re smart enough not to own. January 06, 2013 at 02:16PM

We believe these 13 trends, by no means exhaustive, will help define travel and many other interconnected sectors:

Everyone wants a Chinese tourist
Ancillary fees are the new normal
Last-minute mobile hotel booking
The rise of price transparency
Travelers are hungry for food tourism
Airports as destinations
Destination branding through movies
Digital maps are one of travel’s key battlegrounds
Personal in-flight entertainment through mobile devices
Affordable design at hotels
Blurring of business and leisure travel
Cementing of the Gulf as the next great global aviation hub
Lure of the last unknown: The rise of Myanmar

Gerd adds: nice report ( and free;) January 04, 2013 at 09:53AM

Commercial Buildings Going Green. More buildings, manufacturing plants and office complexes in the U.S. are going “green,” or at least heading that way. December 25, 2012 at 12:37PM

One thing that’s clear is that decarbonising electric power will be critical for solving climate change. Even assuming big gains in efficiency, the world will need about twice as much electricity in 2050 as it does today. The problem is that, as of today, most of the world’s electricity comes from coal (40%) and gas (20%), with hydroelectric (16%) and nuclear (13%) by far the largest low-carbon sources December 23, 2012 at 07:39AM

When will we Americans realize that our society is an unacceptably violent one, that this is how the rest of the world sees us, and that much of that violence is associated with guns? Will it be the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School? Where is our threshold for self-awareness? December 18, 2012 at 09:39AM

Solar will become so affordable in the next 5-10 years that as many as 38 million homes and businesses will elect to produce their own power more cheaply from unsubsidized solar rather than buy it from their utility December 16, 2012 at 03:25PM

The world’s population will continue to grow, reaching 8.3 billion by 2030 (up from 7.1 billion in 2012). Nations will become older and more urban. All these factors will combine to put pressure on precious resources. “[T]he volume of urban construction for housing, office space, and transport services over the next 40 years could roughly equal the entire volume of such construction to date in world history.” December 13, 2012 at 07:10AM

Right now a half a dozen Supercharger stations are sprinkled throughout California. By next year, if all goes well, Tesla drivers will be able to motor cross country from Tampa to Toronto, New York to Los Angeles and on to San Francisco and points between and beyond, snagging jolts of electricity along the way. Because he’s chairman of SolarCity, which produces these cheap and easy-to-install solar-paneled carports, Musk is creating enviable vertical integration. In essence, he’s marketing the cars at premium and giving away the gas, the opposite of HP’s much despised sell-the-printer-for-cheap-and-gouge-consumers-on-the-cartridges approach.

What’s more, these superchargers put back more energy into the grid than they take out, so Musk could be paid for producing electricity. I imagine there could be opportunities for up selling – food, coffee, sunglasses, games, electronics and tchotchkes for the kiddies at these electrical way stations. Since it takes about a half hour of charging for 150 miles of drive time – and an hour for 300 miles – drivers and passengers will have time to kill”

Gerd adds: very interesting point- this could usher in an entirely new era of ‘highway culture’ - but how will all that electricity be produced? December 14, 2012 at 05:05AM

We live in a world where more individuals have access to mobile phones than to clean water. This access to cellular technology does wonders to bring folks closer to resources, information, and connections that can change their lives. With every day that passes, technological advances increase access to more and more of the world’s population December 14, 2012 at 05:37AM