The year was 1876 and Alexander Graham Bell had just invented the first telephone. He filed for a patent, describing it in his U.S Patent Office application as “an improvement in telegraphy.” But Professor Bell saw himself as an inventor, not a businessman, so he and his partners offered the gadget to Western Union—the telecommunications behemoth of the day.

Details are sketchy and some conflict, but Bell apparently asked $100,000, about $2.3 million in today’s money, for the rights. Given that those rights morphed into what are today AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and other firms—combined—it was a bargain beyond belief. Yet Western Union turned Bell down. It was and is one of the most celebrated cases ever of a big company missing the mark.

But Western Union was not the clue-less corporate oaf some portray it to be. Its president, William Orton, pushed scientific research. His leadership created technology that allowed Western Union to send multiple telegrams over the same wire at once—a huge leap in efficiency and cost savings. Western Union also supported a competing tele-phone design in a patent infringement case the U.S. Supreme Court settled to Bell’s favor in 1879.

But the damage was done.

There have been other business misses and near-misses. Another ex-ample is the quote attributed to IBM President Thomas Watson in 1943 that

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” That wasn’t a bad opinion to have at the time, given that “computer” in the 1940s meant a clanking machine that filled a large room and sucked enough juice to dim the lights, as the 2014 movie “The Imitation Game” demonstrated. Thankfully for its shareholders, IBM still pursued computers with great success.

So what does all this have to do with the energy business? Quite a lot.

Society’s dependence on oil and gas may seem the natural order of things—like sending telegrams—but it could easily change. Consider that just a decade ago the Hubbert’s Peak theory was gospel and the world just knew it was running out of oil and gas. Then came the shale gale.

What could replace oil and gas? Maybe, just maybe, renewables will. Renewable power could be on the verge of finding a way to answer its biggest weakness: economical power storage for use when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine. Power magazine featured a recent cover story, “Battery Storage Goes Mainstream,” that noted “grid-connected batteries have long been touted as a tantalizing prospect” to balance electricity supply and demand, and added “new developments suggest that prospect is now a reality.” Examples are still comparatively small, but are growing rapidly.

Energy storage is set to grow as fast as solar photovoltaic energy in recent years, sparking strong interest from a wide range of players. And underscored by recent mergers and acquisitions among car manufacturers, major oil and gas companies and conventional power suppliers,” Marianne Boust, now with Capgemini Consulting and formerly a principal analyst at IHS Market, said in the article.

So far, renewables actually have been a plus for gas producers and the pipelines that serve them, as utilities find ways to keep power flowing on short notice when the wind stops or clouds roll in.

Will big batteries work? I don’t know, but if so, the impact on oil and gas could be huge. It’s important for management in any era to keep watch for the next big thing and plan accordingly.

Separately, please note that Hart Energy’s DUG Eagle Ford Conference & Exhibition has been set for Aug. 29-31 in San Antonio. Rigs are returning to this promising unconventional play, and a great lineup of speakers will discuss what lies ahead for South Texas. I hope you can join me there.

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