Author: Maarten Steinbuch

In a weekly column, alternately written by Lucien Engelen, Maarten Steinbuch, Carlo van de Weijer, and Tessie Hartjes, E52 tries to find out what the future will look like. All four contributors – sometimes accompanied by guest bloggers – are working on technologies that can provide solutions to the problems of our time. This Sunday, it‘s Maarten Steinbuch’s turn. Here are all the published columns. It’s autumn and yet I feel happy and sunny. Last week I read that in Saudi Arabia the price of solar energy has now reached a historically low value of 1.67 eurocent per kWh. I say it again, in another way: only 0.0167 €/kWh! You and I pay around 0.21 €/kWh for electricity from our power outlet, including a large amount of taxes and network costs. The electricity from solar panels has dropped in price very rapidly, much faster than even the official authorities have predicted. Such prices simply represent a disrupting process: a complete reorientation of the energy sector. Ok, here the sun shines less, but if it is so cheap there, a lot of solar power stations will be built, in all countries where there is a lot of sunshine, just because it is cheaper. And that makes for cheaper solar panels again. And so the price is going to drop here too. A Kodak moment appears. Earn money by sustainability. Moreover, the...