Letters to the Editor
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Limits and opportunities
There is lots of room for technological change and improvement-- from computers to biotech to new materials, things are and will continue to be different. But there are limits-- the basics of energy sources are not going to change, anymore than we're going to re-write the laws of thermodynamics. Faster aircraft are just not efficient(the sweet spot for speed, size and altitude was known a long time ago and the aerodynamics haven't changed). No energy source we've found matches conventional oil for ease of shipment, energy density and ER/EI.
The big improvements tend to be in areas we don't anticipate-- it's easy to imagine bigger, faster cars and planes (even flying cars), large-scale space travel and cheaper and cheaper energy (fusion power)-- none of which we have or, it seems, ever will have. But no-one (not even figures in the industry) anticipated personal computing or the net or easy sequencing and alteration of DNA. So will we have great advances? Almost for certain. But will they solve our basic problems of energy supply and climate change? Very doubtful-- and relying on magical new sources of energy to power a hydrogen energy system is dreaming in technicolor.