Patents are killing innovations in energy sector
I always have this feeling that when people discover something and get a patent on that, they either take time to execute that discovery in the market in the form of products or they don't do that at all and just hold patents alone. I have heard that some patents don't come out in the market because the competitors available in the market do not have that product so there is no disturbance for their product. That is how big folks have suppressed many patents from becoming a reality. Many big companies are holding many patents intact where they don't release them and they won't let anyone else release either. When there is a small need for them to grow in the market with competition, they try and make use of the patents to release innovative products.
Many discoveries are made
I have to admit that there are so many discoveries that are made in the energy sector. Those innovations are very good but they don't come to the market as a final product. People make patents which is also again a great thing because the person who discovered gets a good hold of the product but if the founder doesn't want to bring the final product to the market, it is very sad that an innovation is going to waste and we are unable to practically use it.
Today there was an article I read about using Ceramics as an alternative to silicon which is the common element in creating solar panels. Recently I wrote an article mentioning the need for a solution to manage solar waste. Every solar panel has at most 25 years and after that, they have to move to scrap. We need a facility to recycle solar panels because many panels are reaching their end of life. If we can come up with a solution that can last for several years more than the regular 25 years, then that's the best way to go because that will also gradually reduce electronic waste.
Need for innovation in the energy sector
Today we have so many advancements in the field of energy. Things are indeed far more advanced than what it was about 20 years ago. We still need a lot more innovation in this sector too. The battery is one of the biggest things that never got a major update in the last decades. The biggest problem we have with energy is that we cannot save a lot of energy that we are producing. Even if we have to save energy, we have to still waste a lot of energy in that process.
Today if we can create energy through cheaper means than using solar panels that will be wonderful because it needs a lot of innovation. Some innovations are happening but it becomes a patent and never becomes a reality. When it comes to innovations, we need batteries that are very efficient. Today we have a lot of improvements in storage devices. Earlier the storage devices used to be very big but today the storage devices are very small and every year the size keeps going down with some innovation or the other.
The above is just my opinion and in some cases, the truth or reality can be different too. There can also be several challenges in making an innovation a reality and that can also be one of the reasons why patents stay as patents forever.