The reference is to a novel by Heinrich von Kleist, where nothing happens the way one would expect, and all things are not what they seem.

Jenny Fielding, Managing Director of Techstars New York City Accelerator, which recently selected its latest batch of cohorts, penned a piece (New World, New Focus. How Application Trends at Techstars NYC Point to a Changing World) about the shift in focus of the entrepreneurs, given the current climate. And always important for founders to look to what the problems are, find the white space, and take it from there.

Speaking of climate, much attention has been given in the past few years to climate change. As always, important to look around, see what the problems are and find the white space. Glaringly obvious this past week were the events in Texas, when a devastating cold snap caused the windmills to freeze and the power grid to fail.

As for being greenm as Tucker Carlson opined, “Rather than celebrate and benefit from their state’s vast natural resources, politicians took the fashionable route and became recklessly reliant on so-called alternative energy, meaning windmills. Fifteen years ago, there were virtually no wind farms in Texas. Last year, roughly a quarter of all electricity generated in the state came from wind.”

 

Note to self: Wind energy is not as green as you might believe (Wind energy’s big disposal problem).

Texas isn’t accustomed to such extreme temperatures and this is a heads up to everyone everywhere, considering that for all we’ve been warned about global warming and carbon emissions, ad nauseam, the truth is, albeit wildly underreported, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Confirms ‘Full-blown’ Grand Solar Minimum. “NASA data shows clearly that sunspot counts and solar flares are dropping which is a clear indicator that solar activity is receding slightly, which means that the Earth’s climate will change, only it won’t be getting warmer…å solar minimum … could translate into lower overall temperatures on Earth for the duration of this solar cycle – which could last beyond 2030,” 21^st Century Wire reported…”The most famous example is the Maunder Minimum (1645-1715) which brought plummeting temperatures, crop loss, famine, and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people ACROSS the planet. Unfortunately, history repeats — climate is cyclic, never linear.”

“But unlike during the Maunder Minimum, there’s a twist this time around; we modern humans have another cosmological factor to contend with: Earth’s magnetosphere –a key line of defense against incoming Cosmic Rays– is waning at an increasing rate as north and south magnetic poles continue their wander. The field is expected to be considerably weaker by 2040, and, as with previous magnetic excursions/reversals, these events can lead to an uptick in volcanic/seismic activity, solar outbursts, and even the onset of ice ages.

Fielding said that Techstars has focused on new technologies coming out as a reaction to  the lockdowns et al. For the record, the lockdowns were also a contributing factor in Texas. As AIER (Lockdowns and the Texas Power Disaster) reported, “An investigation by NBC found that ERCOT “did not conduct any on-site inspections of the state’s power plants to see if they were ready for this winter season. Due to COVID-19 they conducted virtual tabletop exercises instead – but only with 16% of the state’s power generating facilities.”

Always a good idea to skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been, a phrase which is often wrongfully attributed to Wayne Gretzky, but which was actually sage advice from his dad. In this case, time to be proactive rather than reactive and to follow the science, not the talking points. Is there a market for prepping for the solar minimum? Texas just inflated its energy prices to consumers by 10,000%.

What happened in Texas is not an outlier.

Texas may well be a harbinger of things to come. Time to once again think different: think advanced and easily retrofittable home insulation. Think energy sources outside of traditional electricity and the current crop of ‘greens,’ such as windmills, which are costly, inefficient, and kill birds.  Look, Nikolai Tesla created free energy from static electricity. It had its quirks but times have changed. That’s where the new generation of entrepreneurs come in and that’s why it’s called ‘innovation.’ With colder temperatures and reduced light, crops will fail. Time to reimagine agriculture and alt hydroponics/lighting less dependent on, again, traditional energy or problematic first-generation ‘green’ solutions.

Bottom line: we’re all for sustainability and natural forms of energy, but time to consider it all holistically: think backups and redundancies. Think locally, not globally Think solar minimums, not carbon emissions. Think science over scientism and considering the true science, the future may well depend on it. Time to look at reality, think innovatively, and above all, to stop tilting at windmills.

Onward and forward.