So, at the moment in the UK petrol prices are going through the roof. At around £5 per gallon, thats about $10 US. There are lots of factors affecting the price of petrol, but the truth is eventually it will all run out. Because of this it will become slowly more and more expensive.
The rising cost of petrol has a knock-on effect to the cost of goods and services. It will be very expensive just to drive to work each day. Even if you cut down to only essential journeys, and share rides, you will still be paying out more and more each year. Even public transport like trains and buses will have increased fuel costs as supplies get lower.Its all very well putting high tax on fuel to discourage excessive driving, but sometimes going from point A to point B is essential and unavoidable, for example, travelling distances to seek medical attention or importing foods into areas that cannot grow them locally.
As time goes on we will see people driving less and less, and perhaps using technologies such as
video conferencing and
telecommuting as a way to get around the problem. Modern workforces will need to evolve new ways of getting teams to work together
digitally instead of physically. This is a massive challenge that forward thinking companies have to deal with now. Currently schools and universities lead the way with online courses and distance learning. It could eliminate the school run entirely, but it wont do much for good social development.
One prospect I am very excited about is the idea of electric cars. There has been a lot of progress recently with battery technology for mobile phones and laptops, and that helps with innovation in battery powered vehicles. The reason I am most excited about electric cars is that you have the possibility of generating your own fuel. The idea of being able to place solar panels on your roof, or even in your parking spot at work means that you get to capture energy for free. This local power system will be amazing, as we will then have an abundance of power. When you can drive almost anywhere for very low cost we will see a massive increase in unnecessary journeys. When your electricity bill is close to £0, you can leave the lights on all day, you can become "wastefull" without creating waste.
I am sure there will be a short term energy famine in the next 5 to 10 years, and it is already hitting the UK hard. But once we get our act together and see more clean, renewable energy sources being used on a local level we will enter a new era of excessive clean energy consumption.
As a computer user, my livelihood depends on electricity. To be able to generate that for myself is amazingly liberating. If anybody is working on any projects in this area please get in touch as I find it very exciting.
Image from
Wikipedia
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Francisco Guerro, a former magician and co-founder of SnowMasters Inc, watches one of his floating logos – branded Flogos – drift away, above. Mr Guerro has developed a machine that can send foamy clouds as wide as 4ft and shaped like corporate logos drifting into the sky. The Walt Disney Company will use it next month to make Mickey Mouse-shaped clouds at Walt Disney World in Florida, he said. Mr Guerro, whose firm in Lexington, Alabama, makes fake snow for Hollywood, says the foam is environmentally safe and pops like bubbles when it lands. There is an amazing video here.
