I admit it. I’m an energy industry junkie. My news feeds are chock full of energy stories, I chase down obscure items that interest me, and I scrutinize energy industry changes to understand their hidden meanings and bigger implications. It’s for this reason that every year around this time, I step back from the task of satisfying my daily energy news fix and focus instead on the many bigger swinging trends that are buffeting the world.

In this episode I’m using a framework called STEEPLE, which refers to Social, Technology, Economy, Environment, Politics, Legal, and Ethical. It’s a way to categorize ideas into manageable buckets.

The category of social trends includes topics like demographics, shifts in settlements, human migrations, and cultural changes.

I like to consider the social trends with the biggest impacts on the energy industry which tend to be those that drive demand and supply.

Tech trends cover more ground than just digital, and include science advancements, materials, new energy, health care, and many others, but I’m mostly focused on digital for this article.

The pace of digital innovation is not abating, and is likely accelerating as investments in select foundational capabilities come to fruition.

Economic trends covers such topics as markets, commodities, interest rates, employment, and much besides. Looking beyond commodity price reveals a host of important trends in the global economy.