While the world leadership in the global energy sector has been controlled by OPEC and its dominator, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the leading world user, has risen to first place due to hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” within the short period comprising the current century.

America has overstepped not only the Saudis and Russia, but is bringing to market innovations that will make energy cleaner and more affordable, notes Thomas J. Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The U.S. energy segment of the business community is investing billions in technologies that are starting to change the current energy landscape. For instance, NET Power Inc. is developing a revolutionary new power process that compresses and recirculates carbon dioxide and turns it into an active energy source. This process allows for zero emissions for electricity.

NuScale Power is another business innovation of new energy usage. Its team of engineers has designed a small nuclear reactor making emissions-free energy more affordable and easier to deploy. This has the potential to provide clean water and reliable electricity to multi-millions across the globe, but especially to those in remote regions currently lacking access to power.

America’s business community is leading the charge, along with the innovative processes still in the development stage. It is driven by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute, which recently hosted an Energy Innovation Institution for CEO’s of major energy development companies. They discussed the innovation of specific new developments to enhance ever-greater energy potential available in the United States.

Industry leaders included U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the former holder of that position under the Obama administration, Ernest Moniz. Moniz used the opportunity to unveil his Green Real Deal, a blueprint for addressing climate change. I’m sure the name was not an intended pun for the Dems New Green Deal.

Moniz is dedicated to convincing the business sector to become a part of the climate change solution by merging a private-public approach to accelerate the innovation process. Donohue claims that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce not only supports this concept but plans to be a partner in the initiatives’ ultimate success.

Competition Heats Up for Streaming Services

It is expected that within the year 2020, streaming will be significantly enhanced from its beginnings just a few years ago.

Comcast’s NBC, Universal, ATT, Warner Media Division, Walt Disney and Apple will have each released a new streaming video series, taking on the existing ones from Amazon.com, CBS, Hulu and Netflix. This will instigate a competition to eventually decide which “streamers” will become the eventual dominates.

These media conglomerates will try to invade Netflix’s turf, due to its large variety of alternatives. The success of Netflix’s charging a monthly fee for a large amount of ad-free, on-demand programming, etc., has inspired millions of viewers to cancel their pay-TV service and get their home entertainment online. 

Simultaneously, the telecommunications and tech industries have observed Netflix and Amazon Prime Video transferring vast amounts of valuable consumer data from their viewers, as starting a successful streaming service also becomes a great way to sell more of their existing products.

But the many pitfalls of starting up makes the course ahead ever more difficult in an exceedingly crowded field. For decades, Disney, NBC, Time Warner, etc., enjoyed a lucrative, straightforward business model. They packaged TV programs into channels, then sold them to consumers through cable and satellite distributors such as Comcast Corp., Direct TV and others. These pass along recurring subscription fees as more people are watching a particular channel. It allowed networks to collect billions of dollars from the advertising they served up during commercial breaks.

The dynamics of this new race are becoming increasingly competitive, as the Internet has made canceling streaming services so easy. Not bound by long-term contracts, streaming subscribers are easily lured away. In surveys, market research firm Park Associates found that 28 percent of consumers said they have subscribed to a streaming service just to check out a single title.

Retaining subscribers and luring away those from competitors requires both reruns and fresh batches of original programming, which will be hugely expensive. Competitors are taking some drastic measures. The Walt Disney Co., to open the field, paid $71 billion for the bulk of 21st Century Fox as the bidding keeps climbing.