.. and it definitely isn’t powered by bioenergy. Note the red box.

I don’t know how far-fetched the notion of space-based* energy by 2080 is, but the idea seems quite typical in the tradition of ‘technical fixes’ to complex problems. Also, is it possible that utopian visions of this type – formulated outside the hectic realms and quarrels of day-to-day politics could serve as a kind of false security, a pretext for doing nothing, thus becoming counter-productive? After all, what is the point of changing our energy consumption patterns today? Engineers will surely save us soon, anyway – don’t worry!

Its quite easy to make fun of such forecasts, of course. That being said – this book by George Friedman is actually a quite readable piece of airport litterature (spoiler: keep an eye out for a stealth Japanese military base…. on the  moon!) Have a nice flight!

*) More precisely he talks about space based solar power.