In 2022, will we be taking air ships to New York?
Trying to live a low-carbon lifestyle currently seems to be all about giving up things; traditional light bulbs, the car, flights to far-flung places, even having a bath. But in 15 years' time, exciting new products could have been developed that actually make eco-living fun.
Take Kinetica, a gadget that uses your own personal energy to charge your mobile or laptop, or Autoconvoy, a conveyor belt for cars, the ultimate in eco-driving. If this sounds like an episode out of Futurama, think again.
According to a report today from sustainable charity, Forum for the Future, called Low Carbon Living 2022, these, and many other ideas, could become reality very soon if we are serious about going low carb. But it's not just all about new technology.
For Atlantic travel, the report ditches the plane in favour of an older from of transport: airships. Using airstream, these vehicles, fitted with offices, gyms and restaurants could get passengers from London to New York in 20 hours. To make low carb online shopping the norm, Shop&Drop is a simple idea that gives everyone a password-protected refrigerated lockup so you don't have to be in when the shopping's delivered.
But to cut down on consumption all together, Locality is an online borrowing scheme that allows people to lend out those items people hardly even use, such as power drills, or what about Ugrow, an easy grow your own food scheme that reduces the food miles of getting your dinner from farm to fork.
Other ideas are already with us, albeit on a small scale, such a modular housing, which the report calls Reef Living, because like coral that grows new nodules when the need arises, it can add modules when your family expands.
Do these products and services sound feasible? Would you use them, or do you have better ideas? What eco-friendly idea do you hope will be mainstream by 2022? If you think this all a bit far fetched, just remember that 15 years ago hardly anyone had mobiles, the internet was just a communication device for universities, and Google and eBay weren't even a twinkle in anyone's eye.
