The 5% Rule

How small shifts lead to big changes

I first discovered this effect in March of 2014 when I read the Edison Energy paper on solar energy adoption. They determined that even a 5% adoption of solar energy would be enough to “tip the scales irreversibly”. This is when I coined the term, “The 5% Rule”, which I defined as when 5% change is enough to cause a systemic change.


3 Examples:

1.”Electric vehicles close to ‘tipping point’ of mass adoption…In 2020, 4.2% of new cars were electric.”: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/22/electric-vehicles-close-to-tipping-point-of-mass-adoption


2. 5% of people using solar energy instead of grid energy is enough to tip the scales irreversibly*: http://grist.org/climate-energy/solar-panels-could-destroy-u-s-utilities-according-to-u-s-utilities/

*Disruptive Challenges: Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a Changing Retail Electric Business by Edison Electric Institute: http://www.eei.org/ourissues/finance/Documents/disruptivechallenges.pdf

3. 5% of people buying things online instead of stores lead to the decline of malls in America: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/03/are-malls-over.html

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