Unlike multiple others, I do NOT think Fusion will be commercially viable in 30 years. Quite frankly, if we even get a LAB experiment with a Q ration over 1 in 30 years, I’ll consider us ahead of schedule. Don’t get me wrong, fusion is the future of energy…but it’s still the distant future.
1) Organ Printing – We’ve been doing this in labs, and I think within the next 30y, we’ll be doing it on a regular basis, greatly extending lifespans.
2) AI – There’s going to be an explosion in AI applications that will make things more efficient. I think some people overstate how DEEP AI will penetrate certain jobs, but it will definitely be a huge labor saver.
3) Self-driving cars – We’re not as close to this as the marketing material says…but 30y is a long time. I think we’ll have realistic self-driving cars by then, and we’ll start seeing ride-hailing apps with fleets of cars making the need for anyone to own their own virtually nil in population dense areas.
4) Full-on cure for cancer – For decades we misunderstood the cancer problem, but in the last decade we’ve made huge strides and now we’re starting to see how to dial the body’s immune system to attack cancerous cells while leaving healthy ones alone. Watch for most cancers to be ‘cured’ within the next 30y.
5) Micro-fission – I don’t think Wind & Solar are realistic answers to providing the main source of power in an economy. Too erratic, not energy dense enough, to reliant on rare earth elements in massive quantities. As I said above, i think fusion won’t happen fast enough. To bridge the gap, I think mini-reactors that can be mass produced and bring economy of scale to fission power (not to mention increased safety and efficiency thanks to next generation designs…most nuclear plants right now are using the same design from the 1950s). I think these micro-fission reactors will be the perfect bridge between using LNG to lower emissions now, and the long term of fusion. It will take the politicians awhile to come around, but as W&S become majority players in some energy economies, expect some very high profile blackout and brownout problems that will change their minds.