Creative destruction is the essential fact about capitalism, wrote the great Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeterin 1942.
Change happens more quickly and creatively during times of economic disruption.
Innovations meeting material and cultural needs accelerate.
Structures preventing new, more efficient technologies weaken.
As the old economy collapses, innovations cluster to become the core of the new economy.
Over the past three centuries, there have been five great waves of economic disruption and clustering.
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Over the long run, the COVID-19 economic disruption should accelerate the wave.
Coal and renewables use.
In 2020 coal production is projected to fall to 1960s levels.
Electricity generation from all non-renewables was down 12%.
But the generation from renewables was up 3%.
Electromobility
Electromobility encompasses electric vehicles including cars, buses, andtrackless trams.
The only major carmaker toincrease sales was Tesla, selling 88,496 cars.
Teslas booming share price saw it overtake Toyota in May to become the worlds mostvaluable car maker.
They have been growing in use for transport, energy, and housing.
Apps help us navigate through cities, and to know precisely when buses or trains are due.
In housing, smart systems can improve all aspects of a homes energy and environmental performance.
This cluster of innovations are modular, so developers can experiment and then scale up.
They will lead to a cleaner, greener economywith many more new jobs.
Australia is already a global leader in the uptake of solar generation and battery storage.
We are also doing well in smart city technologies.
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyPeter Newman, Professor of Sustainability,Curtin Universityunder a Creative Commons license.
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