The evolution and impact of social media can provide us with a great roadmap for the future trajectory of sustainability-driven business models. Up until now, the lack of small scale energy production technologies meant that consumers had to rely on fossil-fuel based, large scale production and distribution systems. With solar, wind, geothermal, and other technologies becoming affordable and scalable, that is now changing. Add to that the instant availability of information and online learning networks, and the nexus of social media and sustainability can lay the foundation for an explosion of innovation and rapid progress on economic and ecological challenges.

Google’s purchase of Nest is a harbinger of things to come. This transaction marks the coming of age of the advanced energy economy, where control, influence, and decision-making power is devolved to individuals. The combination of small scale clean energy and ubiquitous information accessibility – that’s powerful stuff. And the more consumers get a taste of it, the more they’ll like it.

Two principles that will drive ‘social energy’

How will this transformation unfold for sustainability-driven practices? To get an idea, it’s important to look at two basic principles, among others, that drive social media – choice and accessibility.

Social media has drastically increased our choices. Anyone with an internet connection has unparalleled access to information at the click of a button. We can compare prices, read reviews on products and services, and consider different viewpoints on a range of issues. And although many consumers choose to interact with media consistent with their own beliefs, the key point is that they have control of what they read and what they don’t. They can move freely. And given the right incentives, they will.

A second principle is accessibility. For instance, let’s consider the make-up of the workforce. Social media has given everyone the tools necessary to start a business at little cost. For next to nothing, you can get online and sell goods and services. The media sector has been transformed because content creation and delivery is no longer a one-way pipeline from the top down to the masses; the masses are now creators themselves. Information technology has now given us 3-D printing which will distribute the manufacturing sector. In finance, it’s crowdfunding. Access to the means of production across a range of economic sectors has been widened immeasurably.

Energy: evolution in action

So how do these principles apply to sustainability? The energy sector, a dominant factor for sustainability, provides a good illustration. The number of solar panel installations saw a huge increase last year. Driven by financial incentives including tax breaks and decreased costs, solar is making rapid penetration into energy markets in various locations around the country, particularly in the western part of the United States. Consumers have more choice – they can draw power from their own solar resources or access the grid. The result? Consumers are empowered.

At a regional level, accessibility to diverse resources is also coming into play. A diverse and distributed energy mix means more, but smaller power generation facilities. Financially, smaller projects can be funded by a greater number of smaller investors. The smaller scale opens up investment to a wider tier of companies and individuals who would not otherwise have the means to participate in larger projects characterized by huge up front costs and long payback periods which “lock in” consumers to a centralized energy system.

Utilities are having a fit over this. Their market positions and profit bases, long insulated from disruption by their near monopolistic status in the energy space, are eroding. Outdated industrial economy business models, characterized by top-down, capital intensive, and centralized production frameworks are already falling away. Their demise won’t take long. Even so, the incumbents are not going quietly. Just witness New Jersey’s decision to ban Tesla’s direct-to-consumer car sales and Florida’s requirement that customers be hooked up to the grid. Just as traditional media businesses have been decimated within a very short time frame, centralized energy producers will likely follow suit as consumers become empowered through a mix of information and energy technology accessibility and choice.

Technology empowers sustainability

The consumer is in charge and influences his entourage – that’s the iron law of social media marketing. With advanced energy technology, energy is increasingly coming to resemble information – just about anyone can generate it now. Energy, like information, is poised to follow a similar trajectory of diversity and distribution where control will devolve to cities, communities, and even individuals. What’s more, some financial groups are finally embracing sustainability with innovative approaches. When based on financial incentives, sustainability – defined in terms of resiliency, natural capital valuation, and ecosystem services accounting – is poised to become a driver of innovation and the changing nature of workforces.

One thing is for sure: just like social media, we won’t get to a sustainable economy using historical technologies. What’s required is a technological leap and a systems-level approach to deployment of new tools and methods. By delivering new tools that allow consumers to empower themselves, sustainability technologies will transform how we all live and work.

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