Contrary to negative narratives, the clean energy transition is not only underway but thriving, Bastian Gierull, CEO of Octopus Energy Germany, argues in his compelling DLD25 presentation, peppered with facts and charts.
“Every day we’re bombarded with news on how the energy transition is failing, on how it cannot work”, Gierull says. “But this is basically just a lie that’s been told to us for years and years. I’m here to tell you today that the energy transition is not only working and thriving, it’s literally swinging.”
Electric vehicles already save 1.8 million barrels of oil consumption every day, Gierull notes. By 2040, the number is likely to grow to 40 million barrels per day. “Fossil fuel companies are waking up to this and they’re afraid, and they’re fighting for their lives.”
Gierull compares the current state of the energy transition to the early days of the smartphone. “If you think back 20 years ago”, he says, “smartphones weren’t very smart. They were exceptionally expensive. They were thought to be a niche product and that there wasn’t really any large scale application for them.”
But technological progress quickly drove down prices while making smartphones much more powerful. “We’re seeing exactly the same development in renewable energies”, Gierull says. “If we look around, there’s exponential change happening in renewable energies everywhere. Costs are coming down and usage is increasing.”
Battery prices have decreased by 90% over the past 15 years, he notes, and the cost of solar energy has dramatically fallen as well.
Consumers are leading this shift, with private households spending $184 billion globally on clean energy systems in 2022 along – a staggering 340% increase compared to previous years. “Quite literally, consumers are dragging governments and energy systems into the future”, Gierull says.
Looking ahead, Gierull highlights the transformative role of AI in managing renewable energy systems. “While wind and solar power are cheaper, they’re also more complex,” he explains. “We’ll have thousands of decentralized
energy sources that we need to coordinate” – a challenge that is “perfect for AI.”
Gierull envisions a future where AI optimizes energy consumption, enabling consumers to use energy for free during peak renewable production and even eliminating energy bills entirely. “We will live in homes where, due to AI optimizing our energy consumption, we will not be paying a single euro for energy bills ever again,” he predicts.
Watch the video for details and further insights into the clean-energy transition.
