Disruptive Technologies
Course, Section No.
Disruptive technologies are more than simple technological advances that might tweak or optimize an existing product. Disruptive technologies change "the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools" (Manyika et al., 2013). In other words, disruptive technologies have the power to change the world. Of course, not all potentially disruptive technologies result in paradigm-shifting change. Some of them fail to become popular, despite seeming to have significant advantages, and they may even fall into disuse. The reasons behind disruptive technology failure are complex and may depend upon many factors. In this paper, the author will examine two potentially disruptive technologies: wind energy and solar energy. While the applications of solar energy, which utilizes a free, renewable, non-polluting resource to create electricity, seem tremendous, the reality is that solar technology has not yet become disruptive, and solar energy has not come close to replacing fossil fuels, despite its relative advantages. In contrast, wind energy is gaining tremendous acceptance in modern society and appears poised to become a disruptive technology. Given that both wind and solar power represent alternative fuel sources, challenging the energy status quo, it is interesting to look at why wind is poised to be disruptive, while solar is not. An examination of these two types of potentially disruptive technologies can help highlight what firms need to do to ensure technologies are disruptive.
Why Solar Energy has Failed to Shine
To understand why solar energy has the potential to be incredibly disruptive, it is important to look at the advantages of solar energy over traditional fossil fuel energy sources. First, solar energy uses a free renewable resources that is non-polluting, and whose use does not otherwise alter the environment. The use of solar energy to power electricity does not create pollution and does not require altering existing terrain in the same way that the use of water or wind energy does. Second, solar energy has significant potential to run entire small homes or businesses and residential solar panels can even produce enough energy to supply energy to the electric grid (Walsh, 2014). Third, because solar energy installations can be localized, they do not require a grid to transport the energy, making it possible to provide energy in locations that are not serviced by traditional energy lines. These advantages seem to make solar energy a clear solution.
However, solar power has some disadvantages for users that have served as barriers to widespread adoption. The first and most significant barrier is the high upfront cost associated with a transition to solar power. Solar panels are expensive to install and it can literally be decades before a homeowner sees a return on investment from the upfront initial investment. Although costs for these installations has declined in recent years, the systems still remain expensive. There have been some state and federal efforts aimed at encouraging adoption of solar energy. "Current initiatives promoting deployment of solar technology to homeowners, however, are insufficient to motivate large numbers of consumers to adopt the technology" (Eisen, 2011).
In some ways, one may be able to mitigate these disadvantages. For example, adoption of solar technology can actually enable homeowners to create enough energy to have no monthly electrical bills and to make money from selling their electricity back to the grid. However, this ability is complicated and faces some resistance from utility companies. At this point in time, utility companies are responsible for the maintenance of power supply lines in what is referred to as the grid. While there may be some public, taxpayer responsibility for maintaining the lines, the reality is that maintenance has been a business...
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