Just as
four years ago I projected solar growth ten years ahead,
a quarter century ago I projected Internet growth ten years into the future:
Graph:
A Naive Projection of the Growth of the Internet,
John S. Quarterman, Matrix News 2.2, MIDS, February 1992.
From 7.7 million Internet users in 1992, I projected the exponential
growth of the previous few years ahead a decade, to about
3.8 billion people in 2002.
How close was that estimate? Continue reading
Not even Al Gore saw that the continually decreasing price of
solar power was causing exponential deployment growth that
will win within a decade. But now he does.
Since solar is going to win, building destructive and hazardous
petroleum pipelines for short-term profit for a few executives and investors
would be short-sighted at best.
Let’s stop those pipelines, LNG export, and fracking, and plug in to
sun, wind, and water power for a clean and prosperous future.
Experts predicted in 2000 that wind generated power worldwide would
reach 30 gigawatts; by 2010, it was 200 gigawatts, and by last year
it reached nearly 370, or more than 12 times higher. Installations
of solar power would add one new gigawatt per year by 2010,
predictions in 2002 stated. It turned out to be 17 times that by
2010 and 48 times that amount last year.
And you ain’t seen nothing yet: Continue reading
