I have a confession to make. When most companies come to me to demo their latest energy management gadget or app, I love them ... for about a week. Then my interest fades.

I've been working on energy efficiency for 20 years and care deeply about the issue, but this raises the question: Is it possible to get large parts of the population to engage -- and stay engaged -- in energy efficiency?

(co-authored with Dan Saccardi, Associate)

Some companies are betting big that the new Prize -- in terms of sheer billions in wealth available for the taking -- is to be found in the natural gas shales found the world over. That certainly seems sensible if you view the world from the perspective dominant in industry when Daniel Yergin published his seminal book The Prize -- especially with the mounting consensus about Peak Oil, on which even the International Energy Agency now agrees.

But the greater Prize, if you're looking for total value creation potential by companies and for society, is environmental innovation -- for low-carbon energy generation, electric and hybrid vehicles, energy efficiency, and other clean technologies. This is even starting to show in the size of deals done by major energy companies in building their reserves for growth -- even ten years ago, a hundred million dollars was a huge deal in cleantech. This year, we saw deals such as Shell and Cosan's $12 billion joint venture. That stacks up with any of the big unconventional gas deals done in the U.S. this year, such as Chevron's entry in the space with its proposed acquisition of Atlas last week.