What do you think will happen if we found a source of free energy?

[sm0ky2]

The world as a whole is already on its way to a shift, into a green infrastructure.
Eventually, we will be completely run on solar, wind, geothermal,Hydro and nuclear energy.

This will reduce costs to the end user, but there will still be a cost. Costs to run the generation facilities, line maintenance, sub-stations, transformers, and associated labor costs.

The U.S. is about to be the only major coal burning nation on the planet. Thanks to Amtrak
but without them we have no trains.. That's going to be a delicate situation that affects millions of jobs.

But all in all, we will eventually run our planet on "free energy" from our environment. That will not however be "free"
for the consumer. Businesses and residents will still have an electrical bill, factories and labs will still be charged for their energy. The city will still get an electric bill from the power company.

What we need is an ideological change, a Freedom of Energy.
the right for individuals to create, possess, and/or use infinite amounts of energy.

Suppose for a moment that we could create a device the size of a toolshed that could power a subdivision.
It could be placed at a centralized location, say near the clubhouse, and wires run to each house.
Can we do that? is it legal? Can the developer legally obtain a permit to provide a Utility Electrical Service?
who owns it? the Neighborhood Association?

The answers will vary from state to state, country to country, how would we deal will this kind of technology?
will our governments allow us to do that?
Will the power companies pass legislation to prevent it from happening?

What do you think will happen if we found a source of "free energy"?
You are talking about 90% of all the money in the world......
An industry that consumes most of our oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear fuel as a material for production.
larger than all four industries combined.
The things Banks were made of.

[antijon]

Well said, sm0ky2.

[John.K1]

My opinion:  It will never be free energy for end-user. Hungry government needs money supply and they will always find the way how to cover their lost. For example by higher taxes or flat charges. They will outlaw any non-certified home generators. Certified ones will have meters.  Same like with alcohol. It would be much cheaper to make it at home yourself but the law forbid this.   Next think is what society will do with that. Will they fight for to be free?? Not sure. People loosing testosterone over the centuries and getting lazy and manipulated.

Now imagine how many millions of people will loose job from energy industry. That is another army of people for social benefits. Collaps on share market will close even more companies= more people will lose their jobs. This can finish in civil war.

Question is how that energy can be used in industrial sector. The economical brake to dig-over all planet will be gone, and hunger for precious metals will destroy big territories. Yes,solid pollution will be reduced and substituted by electro-magnetic.

Sorry for my negative point of view

[Thphan75]

The world as a whole is already on its way to a shift, into a green infrastructure.
Eventually, we will be completely run on solar, wind, geothermal,Hydro and nuclear energy.

This will reduce costs to the end user, but there will still be a cost. Costs to run the generation facilities, line maintenance, sub-stations, transformers, and associated labor costs.

The U.S. is about to be the only major coal burning nation on the planet. Thanks to Amtrak
but without them we have no trains.. That's going to be a delicate situation that affects millions of jobs.

But all in all, we will eventually run our planet on "free energy" from our environment. That will not however be "free"
for the consumer. Businesses and residents will still have an electrical bill, factories and labs will still be charged for their energy. The city will still get an electric bill from the power company.

What we need is an ideological change, a Freedom of Energy.
the right for individuals to create, possess, and/or use infinite amounts of energy.

Suppose for a moment that we could create a device the size of a toolshed that could power a subdivision.
It could be placed at a centralized location, say near the clubhouse, and wires run to each house.
Can we do that? is it legal? Can the developer legally obtain a permit to provide a Utility Electrical Service?
who owns it? the Neighborhood Association?

The answers will vary from state to state, country to country, how would we deal will this kind of technology?
will our governments allow us to do that?
Will the power companies pass legislation to prevent it from happening?

What do you think will happen if we found a source of "free energy"?
You are talking about 90% of all the money in the world......
An industry that consumes most of our oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear fuel as a material for production.
larger than all four industries combined.
The things Banks were made of.

Interesting point of view but most of the energy you mentioned are already available but is still costly.  I did read a popular science article about some type of nuclear concept that was abandoned in the 60's but is much safer and thousands of times more productive than current nuclear plants.  It's an interesting concept about the subdivision power but I imagine most folks might not want to live near something that can produce enough energy to provide for a whole subdivision, I for one would fear the danger of living near one.

[conradelektro]

Sorry for my negative point of view

I see two possible long term futures (and future A is more likely):

Future A: most of earth will be destroyed and humanity slips back into a stone age type existence where small bands of people (30 to 100 persons, like a tribe) roam the earth. The technological level will be like in the stone age (stone tools, may be cross bows, more likely the stone age spear thrower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower, hopefully there will be fire making skills). There will only be a few million people on earth who almost never meet.

Future B: small groups of people (100 to 500, also like tribes) live together in a very high technological environment which is almost indistinguishable from nature. Plants and living things will be engineered to provide energy, food, housing and clothing. There will be nor more than a few hundred million people on earth, evenly distributed over the nice weather regions of earth. Travelling will be a rare thing. There will be no overall political organisation, the "tribes" organise themselves and do not interfere with other "tribes". There is some interchange of people between the "tribes" (guests, cross marriage, adventures individuals).

In both futures there will still be crime and atrocities, but very few. Humans are designed to live in rather small groups (tribes or bands, like the apes). If the groups become big, bad things start to happen all the time, we become inhuman.

I think, both futures are a nice and hopeful outlook.

Read the ages of man, I am talking about the "golden age": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man

The ages of man happen in a great cycle, which repeats itself, over and over again. The "golden age" is always the longest and lasts many hundred thousands of years.  We are in the "iron age" which is the worst of all and the last and will be rather short.

This looks like a very outdated philosophy or world explanation, but no better one has appeared so far. At least it offers hope. And since we all do not know how the world works, why not pick a positive world view.

Greetings, Conrad