November 22, 2013

The first industrial revolution in the 19th Century was the invention of the steam engine. In the 20th Century oil and gas played a large role, and the US invented the telephone and television.

Electrical supplies became centralised.

“Now we are at the crossroads of a Third Industrial Revolution” – said Jeremy Rifkin, 68, economist and eco-guru, whose book The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power Is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World
is a best seller, in interview with Handelsblatt on November 19.

Jeremy Rifkin characterised the Third Revolution as one of sustainable development for a good quality of life. He said the US was a pioneer in the first half of the third industrial revolution – the Internet.

“Then the US stopped – they have even gone backwards, using fossil fuels such as shale gas”.…