Is a Clean-Energy Economy Our 'Next Internet'?

Just as the race from mainframes to smartphones made information free, surging innovation can make energy so abundant that it becomes nearly free

It’s easy to overhype the potential of the emerging clean-energy economy. When I first dipped my toe into these waters in 2000, the sector was already being hailed as “the next Internet,” a dubious distinction, to be sure, given the implosion of dot-com startups then under way. But the overall point wasn’t lost: The commercial potential of harnessing energy from the wind, sun, tides, and earth and distributing it intelligently to homes, businesses, and vehicles was enormous, representing the next wave of innovation and wealth creation. Over the past decade, that cleantech-as-Internet mantra has waxed and waned, but it hasn’t disappeared.

Nor has the Internet. The flatlining of Pets.com and thousands of its startup brethren notwithstanding, the ecosystem of companies and technologies that bring us our daily digits is alive and well, even during tough times. It has become the backbone of commerce and media, woven deeply into daily life. It is hard to imagine life without it. It has created countless millions of well-paying jobs and made many people wealthy.

The new clean-energy economy will do no less. Comparisons to the Internet may even be inadequate. What’s taking place today is arguably bigger