Can IT Help Propel a Fundamental Shift in the Energy Industry?

Clean-tech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla writes in a Newsweek.com posting that beyond increasing support for research, the government can require a market for renewable fuels and renewable electricity. That, he writes will encourage entrepreneurs to develop these technologies and venture capitalists to invest in them. And, he's convinced the best companies that emerge can achieve unsubsidized market competitiveness relative to their fossil-energy competitors.

Is the idea of such fundamental change in the energy industry too idealistic? Here's Khosla's answer:

I think not. Just over a decade ago, every major telco said that it would not adopt the Internet protocol as its core network, even as a company called Juniper was being launched to produce IP equipment. Now Juniper is a successful public company, and carriers using its equipment are offering free long-distance calls using Internet technologies that have become the norm. As a result, telecommunications has changed more in the past 10 years than the previous 50.

The same seems likely for energy as IT know-how will help make its distribution and use more efficient.