Interesting times tonight at the Futurist Club, as we had an extra-long meeting on energy storage. And energy storage really gets me fired up! You see, it’s long been a dream of mine to live in an unlimited energy society, and I have boundless optimism that we’re not too far off. I’m talking about a society in which nobody ever has to charge their phone, because gigantic energy pillars loom over every major city and wirelessly charge every single gadget with raining power from the ionosphere. Think about that for a moment. No more low-power warnings; in fact, we won’t even have little percentage things telling us how much power we have left, because they’ll be pointless. No more power outlets. Just unlimited energy.
Personally, I think Melbourne comes closer to the dream than anything else. Our prowess in commercial battery storage is second to none, as evidenced by the Power Project in the city centre. Those are the gigantic commercial energy storage devices, shaped and designed like giant batteries. They were a collaboration between some electrical engineering students and graphic design students…in case you didn’t already know. That’s why they look so great, but also have practical use. Anyone can jump on one of the exercise bikes surrounding the batteries and give it some juice, and anyone can just walk up and charge their phone.
It’s a taste of the future, I’m telling you. Before the energy pillars become our main source of power, I think we’ll be starting with commercial energy storage solutions that are similar, but scaled-down. So…pillars on street corners, where you can just hold your phone up to them for a minute and it’s fully charged. Free for the good of all! And that’s why I believe that industrial energy monitoring and storage is going to be what creates our new, Utopian society. Once you solve the problem of energy and it’s free and unlimited, wars and poverty will basically cease. It’s all about the volts, I’m telling you.
-Xander