Our Generation's Great Triumph

[fimbulwinter]

Will be creating renewable, ultra-low-cost energy systems to power the entire earth's population. This will come after two great accomplishments, one economic, one scientific:

1. the development of a method of hydrogen storage that is commercially viable. the development of large scale carbon nanotube (fullerine derivatives which "adsorb" H2) synthesis regemins will likely be the answer to this. we know how to synthesize (from electrical energy and water) and burn hydrogen quite well enough, this is the final step to a titanic global economic shift.

2. the planning, funding and implementation of world-scale, offshore wind farms. in the next decade or so, there will be available offshore turbines capable of 10MW. this, in and of itself, is a huge triumph. the ability to bring governments and private investors together to create a grid of hundreds of thousands of these primarily across the atlantic and pacific gulfstreams, mainland asia and norh america will be by far the greatest construction and financing project ever attempted.

fim

Great, a world become one great Singapore, so efficient, so equibable, so harmonious, so affluent; and populated by myriads of minions of Bill Gates clones. Wonderous.

[Dov]

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Our Generation's Great Triumph

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You can't top online poker. This is one of the greatest achievements of all time.

Forget the energy nonsense.

[bholdr]

It's kinda been a back-burner topic for the last few years, but i think once we have cheap, renewable, plentiful energy, (and the carbon technology to transport and store it) we will re-focus on creating the advanced carbon technologies that will totally revolutionize and re-invent the way we build EVERYTHING. theroetically, it could be stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, flexable, cheap, applicable to every single industry and infrastructure need, and basicly limitless.

we may eventually get that wacky space elevator thing going, too. hopefully before i'm too old to go for a ride.

[spoohunter]

I was hoping it would be the beginning of terraforming Mars.