This is Part 3 of a 15 part Series on how I think life will look like in 100 year assuming Global Warming is in effect.  Some Parts refer back to earlier Posts in this Series.

Energy is a key element that enables just about everything in the future to happen.  Due to Global Warming any source of energy must emit no greenhouse gas and safe.  It must be compact and located near the communities in which it serves without the need for lengthy transmission lines of today that are vulnerable to large-scale disruptions and produce loss of power due to resistance of the wires carrying power.  I do not believe that renewable energy such as wind, solar, or hydro will be widely used or used at all since they are not compact, are susceptible to the uncertainties of global warming storms, may need to be located outside the city, and more difficult to manage the distant distribution of energy.

I believe energy will come from many localized small generating units such as Fusion Reactors that can supply large amounts of energy to small areas within large cities.  These do not produce dangerous levels of radiation and can be quite small and produce no radioactive waste.  There is no danger of a thermal nuclear explosion or meltdown since these are plasma devices which will self extinguish if something goes wrong.  They use deuterium which is a hydrogen atom with an extra neutron extracted from heavy water found in all bodies of water such as the ocean so there is close to an endless supply.  This will make energy less vulnerable to large-scale blackouts and independent of wind, water, or sunshine.  Instead of using steam generated power these generators of the future will produce electricity directly from the source of power generation.  One such plant could be the size of a 30 foot RV with enough power for 500,000 people.  We could expect to realistically see such power generators in 15-30 years from now.

The normal renewable sources of energy of today such as wind, water/wave, and solar energy are not consistent as reliable sources of energy requiring a lot of real estate, unreliable transmission lines, storage batteries, maintenance, and physically large arrays of devices making them vulnerable to the natural elements of Global Warming.  These are not practical from a long-term sustainable perspective.

Small compact portable Fusion Reactors that support 150,000 households can be scattered throughout a city of fifty million inhabitants and interconnected in a citywide grid so that if one fails others can keep power running while it is replaced by a spare and comes online again.  This will provide reliable electrical energy for the entire city.  Excess heat produced by these localized plants can be used to heat homes in their neighborhoods so that nothing is wasted.  Energy for heating water will also come from these reactors maximizing the efficiency of utilizing every erg of energy produced.

Just as important as Generating Electrical Power is conserving energy.  More will be said about housing and how to make them energy efficient with appliances and low power consuming devices using very little energy.  Low level lighting to illuminate housing, streets, and gadgets can be provided with bio-luminescent materials utilizing no electrical power.

List of the Parts of this series “100 Years from Now“:

1. Considerations
2. Technology
3. Energy
4. Water
5. Food
6. Mobility
7. Housing
8. Jobs and Economics
9. Socializing
10. Shopping
11. Recreation & Entertainment
12. Population Control
13. Government
14. Education
15. Crime and Security