Green Entrepreneurs: Will the younger generation solve the energy crisis?

What will win out in the end? The natural innovation of man, or the short-attention span video game generation’s laziness forced by “get it when you want it” technology? I’m counting on natural innovation, actually we’re all dependent on it.

A lot is said about the younger generations work ethic, but these are the ones who will be counted on to solve huge problems, just as they were called upon by NASA in the 1970’s for the Apollo Program. From SmartPlanet:

The ranks of the Apollo 11 engineers was predominantly populated by 20-30 year-olds because they had the “Imagination and stamina” that best serves innovation. The point is that we’re expecting young professionals to solve difficult problems like the energy crunch….

Gavin, who was a key player in helping to bring Apollo 13 back to earth in 1970 following an explosion,  told a story about how NASA was on his case for paying his team too much overtime, but that it was justified. “When you do something truly novel, there isn’t anybody who can tell you how long it’s going to take or how much it will cost.”

Given what the 20 - 30 years old accomplished with NASA, I think we can expect just as much from our younger generation. Take these young Green Entrepreneurs listed on TreeHugger for example. Or even better yet, the story of two student green entrepreneurs from MA who now run a Home Solar Store in MA.

Whether it’s a conscious choice or a natural inclination (a debate for another time), entrepreneurs continually gauge their environments to see if there are ways they can be improved.  Our first step toward wanting to do something came from memories of growing up in Berkshire County, and remembering winters just ten years ago with the snow covering the ground, three to four feet deep. Today, even in heavy snowfall years, we are lucky to get two feet, which often melts in a week.  We weren’t satisfied to just wish things were better, so we started making small but significant steps toward living in a more ecologically sustainable manner and encouraging our friends and family to do the same…

For a long time we struggled with research and brainstorming, trying to come up with ideas to make our mark, searching the Internet, attending free seminars, reading magazines and anything else we could get our hands on. Then one day as we were out driving, the solution came to us.  It was like seeing all of our ideas crystallized before our eyes-we imagined a place where consumers could come to educate themselves about what they could do with renewable technologies. We would create a place where people could touch, feel and see the products, and talk to a human being about them…

With individuals like these that care about the environment paired with the ingenuity and resources to find solutions to world problems, I think leaving it in the hands of the younger generation is a smart move.

Maybe all these video games and computers are actually good for the problem-solving side of the brain. Who knew?

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