Maybe all types of shelter covers will be replaced by solar panels once they're cheap and efficient enough. Canopies, roofs...
My house is almost 100% covered by solar panels, they pretty much are my roof. It's really nice. I wonder how much energy we could generate if every house had solar panels instead of roofs. There probably aren't enough batteries in the world to store all that power.
It’ll go a long way towards having sizable battery capacity with an electrified vehicle fleet. But there’s also just building out electrical capacity. The industrial revolution and onward is also a story of humanity having much more access and usage for energy per capita than ever. If energy costs are low enough then direct air capture of carbon becomes a “sure, why not,” for instance. Major power infrastructure was built solely to unlock aluminum when the uses for it were discovered. Energy production capacity never dreamt of before that point.
Yes! What if we could have a post-scarcity energy society? If we generate so much energy it might as well be infinite, there is no need to economize at all. No need to worry about consumption. Direct carbon capture? Sure. Water desalinization? Absolutely. The efficiency of these processes stops mattering.
Solar power with batteries for everything, nuclear energy as backup.
