The Future

Electric vehicles are becoming a common sight, a paradigm shift in the making. And it is not just about switching one engine for another; the entire design of the car has been dictated by the mechanics of the combustion engine. The vehicles of the future will be lighter and more autonomous, and may turn mobility into a service instead of a product.

Fusion power is what makes the stars shine. Recreating the process on earth in a controlled and sustained way would bring clean, safe and abundant energy. The technological challenges are formidable - such as how to handle a plasma at extremely high temperatures - but new materials and improved computational capacity is beginning to tip the scales.

Biomimetics or biomimicry is the interdisciplinary field where biology, engineering and sustainability come together. The processes, systems and solutions found in nature are proven, energy efficient and circular by definition, and inspire new technology and innovation.

Smog formed by particulate matter and pollution is a serious problem in many growing urban areas. In the future, vertical forests and trees planted on building facades may be an important tool to combat pollution. Forest cities are under development in China, and active plant walls derived from space technology increase the air purification power of plants a hundredfold.

Even with zero emissions, we may deem it necessary to reduce the atmospheric carbon concentration. Solar radiation management techniques could be employed as a stopgap solution to offset a global temperature on the rise. Such deliberate acts of climate intervention are referred to as geoengineering.

Negative emissions is one of the important tools mentioned in the Paris agreement. We can capture carbon from flue gases and deposit it in underground reservoirs, and growing biomass can do the sequestration. The technology is expensive and energy-intensive, but it is evolving.