Posted on 05/02/2013 8:22:19 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
n a massive new research report, analysts at investment bank Citi take a close look at 10 technologies they say will disrupt the way we do business.
They've dipped into practically every sector you can think of: energy, entertainment, IT, manufacturing, and transportation among them.
Some of these technologies have been with us for awhile, but are poised to get better or cheaper.
Others have only recently surfaced, but will be ubiquitous in a matter of years.
This is what they say the future is going to look like.
1) Disruption 1: 3-D Printing
Printing parts and materials practically at your desktop. Thanks to falling commodity prices, easier to use software, and more complex design capabilities, the technology is poised to explode. In the future, 50% of parts used in a jet engine could be manufactured by 3D printers.
The 3-D printing market could grow to $6.5 billion by 2019 from less than $3.5 billion today, according to Wohlers Associates. The aerospace, orthopedic, and other high value, low volume industries will be the earliest adopters.
2) Disruption 2: E-cigarettes
Battery-powered smokes that are ostensibly less toxic than regular cigarettes. They also currently allow you to smoke in places where regular cigarettes are barred. They come in both disposable and reusable form.
E-cigarettes will see 50% CAG in coming years.
So far they're only big in the U.S., though they still comprise a small part of the overall domestic cigarette market. Citi estimates the segment will continue to see near 50% compound annual growth (CAG) over the next few years, depending on regulation and penetration into retail.
3) Disruption 3: Genomics And Personalized Medicine
People remain interested in tying their genomic makeup to their potential for carrying certain diseases.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
LOL!
You do *not* quite owe me a keyboard!
It is getting close in areas with lots of sun and the maximum power load occuring during the sunniest parts of the day!
Not quite as bad as you say. The price drop is largely due to the Chinese flooding the market with cheap panels, as well as economies of scale in production as demand has actually grown.
The panels themselves now can be had (in quantity) for less than $1.00 per watt of output. Of course, there are other costs for installation, hardware, wiring, inverters, etc. But large-scale commercial installs are now pricing in the range of $2.50-$3.00 per watt - all in. This equates to a pay-back of 9 or 10 years based on today’s rates in certain areas of the country. That comparison assumes the power utilities’ rates stay constant - which they’re unlikely to do. These sorts of panels are warranted to generate 80% of rated output after 25 years.
You still do have a major issue of day/night and clouds/sun, and the most efficient battery technology today still loses 30% of input power. Unless this is solved, or dramatically improved, solar will only be a supplemental source of energy - not THE source of energy.
SaaS is not the end-all solution it promises to be. Depending on the type of cloud service, you end up putting your data and software applications in someone else’s hands.
You have to hope that their IT security is as good as they claim, you could lose your data due to their mistakes or your account being turned off (as one writer found out Google could wipe out all apps and files when deactivating an account by mistake) and you could end up giving up all you have to a group that now holds you by the throat. Your computer is only a way to access the internet, and you have to pay their fees to access your data, pay your taxes, process information and do your job.
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