I was thinking the issue might be its much better for factories to automate sections of production over time.
It must be a huge expense with risk to design a new factory, automate it end to end and push live hoping the market expectation for the product exists and the automation is as good as planned.
Whereas if you have a manual production line you could have a massive advantage as they can automate out sections ongoing and it allows engineers to build skills in this also as they go.
Was a long article and only skim read, but wouldn't a bigger factor be rising living standards? As more of the world moves to developed world living standards, which would be ideal, if this shift is faster than green technology + depopulation we are going to see increased climate pressure. I didn't seem them mention this but my inexpert view seems the rising tide of living standards may present the real problem.
I haven't read the actual paper, but alone from the abstract many questions come up.
Personally, I doubt the any "near" to "mid" term population decline will have larger effects on the climate change we are seeing. It is just too slow. Meaning that we certainly get (much!) larger effects about climate change done with other stuff, no doubt about that.
However, using that as an inverse argument to foster population growth is a stupid idea, because more people means more resources needed for everything, starting with food and water, climate change resistant shelter, and all the other stuff that is needed for actual living. All of that isn't created out of thin air. Considering that there is increased pressure just to provide food and water already (climate change anyone?!), the lower the population in the long run is, the better. Also, food supply destroys a lot of our environment, alone the meat industry is a planet wide killer because of that.
If I add all this up, population decline is a good thing. And if I read something like "Meanwhile, a smaller population slows the non-rival innovation that powers improvements in long-run productivity and living standards" I start to question the sanity of the people writing something like that.
Most countries in the global north (who happen to be the big contributors to climate change) are facing an aging and declining population.
Many of those countries over the last few decades have been steadily outsourcing manufacturing abroad and other things that shift where the pollution happens and gets accounted.
Over the last decade or so in response to public pressure many of their governments have been pursuing national green policies that really further offshore their contribution to climate change rather than reduce it. Its a kind of frustrating greenwashing that isn't what the voters imagine is happening. Cue rant.
Indeed - people in the West tutting while reading stories on their smart phone about large scale environmental damage due to rare earth mining in China....
For all the talk of net zero the rate of emissions is still going up - ie year on year we are pumping out more than we did the last.
> many of their governments have been pursuing national green policies that really further offshore their contribution to climate change rather than reduce it
That’s my view as well but if I voice it to friends and acquaintances in Western Europe I get angry faces looking back at me. All this talk about green policies whilst electronics waste is burned in Pakistan and India or China dumps huge amount of chemical waste in order to produce the resources for phones and gadgets. Go figure.
> I'd love to make that I think would honestly be worth a small subscription ($5/mo maybe)
I buy a few things for web dev side. I'm a sample of one but I avoid /mth pricing for most stuff if I can and prefer annual. Maybe me but the 'another monthly subscription' feels annoying as much as I respect I want this for my own business.
Will almost always start using free first then pay if its business beneficial to feature enrich of scale.
I think your best focusing on free and getting users. Once you hit a threshold you can ask for some $$ and some people will feel that's reasonable. If you start paid I suspect you'll have little chance of growth unless you come out with something truly amazing.
Unless it really doesn't suit your commute, pay more to be central. This will help you see the city + be social. It can be really difficult if you are one side of the city and your friends end up being the other side as you can have an hour travel to see people type deal.
With location, proximity to a station & what train line matters - you'll likely use the underground a bunch so consider your commute for this closely.
Take one of those bus tours. I did only after living there for years as 'that's for tourists' but its really worth it and gives a good city perspective.
Do lots of travel to Europe from London. So much is on your doorstep with cheap flights if flexible on where you go. Take advantage of this especially if kids are on the horizon.
If you dont already, learn to like beer and pubs. There's something better about British pubs and pub culture. Also it usually well priced reasonable quality meals.
Speaking of pubs, anything crowded in the city will have pickpockets so watch you phone/bag closely or it wont be there.
Its quite common to rent flats furnished, this is likely a good option for you to start. Also what I did as I had no rental history there is offer to pay 6-months up front (and requested a discount for that) to show there financial risk was reduced.
Its an awesome city - I personally enjoyed immensely. I noticed people tended to be there 6-month or 6-years - it was kind of love or hate though, with the majority loving.
Oh and go to Shakespeare's globe theatre for me will you. I walked past that place for 2 years thinking I'll line that one up sometime and never did!
> There is no untapped source of demand anywhere in the world.
What about global growth and development? There are ~billion living in poverty + general low income for even more.
If India and other high population poor countries achieve what China did over the last ~50 years, while China continue to export while transitioning towards a consumption/service economy, there is another engine for global growth. I'm sceptical this will happen, but the potential source of demand is sitting there.
I live in an area where we get a handful of outages every year. From a few hours to a few days.
My current setup is a 2.8Kv generator I haul our of the shed, run a few extension cords to core things like fridge/freezer, internet, office etc.
This is a nice fit between a generator and a Powerwall. Generator is a pain if you have to setup + if not home the fridge stays off or my wife will leave to me unless its urgent. A Powerwall (or similar) is a significant investment.
This product covers people like me with occasional outages but it doesn't have the setup or out of home hassle, and its a more financially accessible solution than a Powerwall. I could def see people interested in this.
I looked through the material, but I'm still at a loss how this is different than any recent battery/inverter combination like Ecoflow/Jackery/etc or a UPS with an app. I'm an electrician, and very in to new electrical products but this one just makes me wonder how it's different.
Look up most of those products and you can see that they aren’t meant to be used daily, kept charged at 100% etc.. This is a commercial energy product scaled down to a consumer level, not a camping battery with a shiny exterior.
Also their apps are bad and don’t offer anything of value.
We know how big the taxi market is and it's growth rate. There is clearly room for a few businesses here alone. Then consider driverless will go beyond taxi to general transportation like trucking which is massive market. Also likely play a significant variable in what cars consumers choose.
I think the risk here is software tends to a winner (or small number of winners) gets all market.
That has to be a major risk/reward concern on the companies investing in this tech.
Great site and community. I suspect keeping the interface so basic has kept it that way.