After plenty of discussions and opinions within our office, we’ve broken out our crystal ball to take a peek into what the future of energy may look like. Here are some thoughts from the Ecotech Energy team . . . and some may even be closer than we think!
Electric Vehicles
We’ve seen Tesla become the most valuable automotive company in the world recently, and all the big auto manufacturers have huge sums invested in electric vehicles. This tells us that the car of the future will be powered by electricity.
New battery technology is making what was once thought of as impractical, a real possibility. In addition, we’ve seen electric vehicle charge points pop up everywhere.
Imagine driving to work, parking your car and plugging it in to ‘fill er up’. And if you’re thinking “but where does the power come from?”, how about solar powered carparks! Rather than have a traditional concrete or metal roof, the roof of the future will be made entirely out of solar panels!
Oh, and we haven’t even touched on manufacturing vehicles using solar panel material – charge your car while you drive!
All this, combined with longer lasting batteries makes electric vehicles a viable transport option in the future – or will it become the norm sooner rather than later?
Power Sharing
Over the last few years more and more micro or community power grids have popped up. What this means is that communities, neighbours and whole apartment buildings are combining the power that their solar systems produce and sharing it. Taking this a step further, will we see whole housing estates include a mini solar power plant by utilising all the rooftop solar systems?
And if we add battery storage to the mix, the possibilities are endless! We may even be able to say goodbye to the large energy providers and their ever-increasing prices – well, we can only hope!
Battery Storage
Every week there seems to be a big leap forward in battery technology. Once upon a time home batteries were seen as a bit weird or just for hippies, and were also seen as somewhat dangerous. I mean, who wants a large acid filled battery in their home? Now they are as safe as any household appliance and take up very little space.
If the trend continues, home battery storage will take up no more room than a small box and have the capability to store enough energy to power your home for a week.
We’ve seen the same battery technology in other products that are currently available, so maybe it’s not that far-fetched! Our smartphones are a great example of new battery technology, they’re getting smaller and much more powerful.
Other Energy Sources
We’ve touched on solar power, but what about new or alternative energy sources in the future? Can we turn our ever growing waste into power? How about hydrogen?
Well, converting waste into energy is already in the works. Imagine throwing your garbage away, the truck picks it up and delivers it to a huge facility that converts it into energy. The tip or rubbish dump of the future may well be a huge power plant! We may even see every household and business have a ‘waste to energy’ machine installed, creating an even more sustainable future for us all.
What will the future of energy look like? We’ll have to wait and see. And don’t worry, if any of the above comes to fruition, we’ll be the first to remind everyone that we were the ones to predict it.
For more far-fetched thoughts on energy, or for any help with your solar needs, contact our energy experts or give us a call on 1300 944 354.
