By MC2 Michael Ehrlich

Rocky Mountain Institute CEO Dr. Amory Lovins lectures to NPS students, faculty and staff on the rapidly changing environment of the energy industry in Glasgow Hall, Dec. 4. His lecture, "Disruptive Oil and Electricity Futures," focused on several factors that are forcing oil, gas and electricity industries to change their business models.

"In the past five years, the meteorite strike of photovoltaics has fatally disrupted utilities by making solar power cost less than gas lines," said Lovins. "Wind power is so cheap that it makes old coal, gas and nuclear plants shut down, as [they are] uneconomic to run."

With light bulbs using a staggering one seventh of the world's electricity, Lovins explained, advances such as the LED bulb can present a very real challenge to the electric utility business model. It's just one change in efficiency, he emphasized, that's cutting energy use and changing the face of the energy marketplace.

Lovins continued to discuss how breakthrough design methods in business and financial models are establishing solid foundations for emerging energy industries. They seek to reinforce themselves with innovative policies, crowdfunding and crowdsourcing, and new development patterns, all of which are able to keep pace with shifting values and the Silicon Valley's culture.

He emphasized his point with a question, "So, is an oil company's competitors other hydrocarbon companies, or is it people?"