What will power the future?

The fossil fuels are going to run out and the world will need alternative means of power generation. There have been countless number of science projects dealing with possible successors to fossil fuels including solar, wind and biomass fuels. And yet there is no clear sign as to what will power the future.

The sure shot answer at one time seemed to be nuclear fuel. It was compact, generated great quantities of power and could be used to generate power over large areas. Unfortunately it is very unstable and difficult to handle. This was driven home very vividly in the Fukushima disaster.

So if nuclear fuel is not the answer to the future, what is? Solar energy has been harvested but it does not still have the technology required to power large areas indefinitely. Wind and water turbine power also have their own technological limitations besides availability limitations.

Can the power of the future come from another source altogether? Perhaps from plants? Like the character, Doc, manages to power his car in the movie “Back to the Future” with some banana peels and a device that looked suspiciously like a blender? It may not be so funny when you think about it. Only future science projects will tell.