Submitted by Producedinchina t3_zqc8az in Futurology
It just dawned on me that movies about the world losing power will be a thing of the past once solar/green energy takes over, and power is decentralized. What are your thoughts?
Comments
wildadragon t1_j0xet9y wrote
Why? EMPs are still a thing, giant solar flare destroying the world's electrical grid, aliens, if its Sci-Fi all they need is their imagination.
spookinky987 t1_j0xgph5 wrote
A Carrington event would wipe out any culture that didn't prepare for it, basically anyplace that ignores the warnings will be sent to the agrarian age, ripe for invasion.
Producedinchina OP t1_j0xgy4d wrote
You’re not wrong. I just think that these types of films will have a very different look as society adapts. Just look at how this scenario would’ve looked even 30 years ago before the technology era really took off.
wildadragon t1_j0xh8xn wrote
They'll look differently because they need to think of new ways to cause the power to stop especially since they used the previous methods many times.
So they won't be a thing of the past in fact more advanced. I mean how many times did the Enterprise on Star Trek lose power running off of dilithium crystals
EmbarrassedPiano5583 t1_j0xhip9 wrote
It's hard to say exactly what the future of sci-fi movies will look like, but it's likely that they will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with technology and special effects. It will be exciting to see how filmmakers interpret and depict the world of tomorrow.
supermegaampharos t1_j0xkgsg wrote
You could still have an interesting movie about localized disruptions.
Like a power outage on Mars.
Or Antarctica or under the ocean.
Or have a Carrington event or terrorists with a superweapon. Or aliens.
There's tons of room for creativity.
KaneTheTrickster t1_j0xotiw wrote
Lol power aint gonna be decentralizedbud not as long as theres a market for it.
rixtil41 t1_j0xwoix wrote
We can although not easily protect ourselves from solar flares. I guess what op is saying is that it will be less relatable to the real world.
nerdyitguy t1_j0xwtnn wrote
Ha, the reason we've been burning fossil fuel so long is because the Aliens we captured in the early 1920s could stop all electrical activity with thier ships weaponry. Film and movies have been trying to tell us about this problem, with the last big one being War of the Worlds with Tom Curise, where the aliens simply killed electrical transmission (aside from the car Tom managed to fix by changing a spark plug roter.)
But now after many years we seem to have forgotton and we are all switching over to pure electrical gadets. Why it's only a matter of time that those little gray bastards are going to show back up and take over the planet, start feeding us happy pills to get us fat for dinner.
There is still pleanty of sci-fi room for Electrical Boogaloo 2122.
Wipperwill1 t1_j0xxup5 wrote
What about when some idiot creates a virus/bacteria that destroys all Petroleum products? How you gonna produce energy then? No plastics, and what else?
kuttymongoose t1_j0y6o0q wrote
These devices are generated in factories that use enormous amounts of energy and resources that can't currently be supplied through renewable sources (besides instances of huge hydro-electric dams) Also, they degrade and wear out eventually anyway
SCP-Agent-Arad t1_j0yckjp wrote
The effect of EMPs are fairly dramatized by movies, and that can continue into the future no matter how advanced we get.
SiegVicious t1_j0ye8vw wrote
Solar and wind energy is not the answer to our energy problems. They are extremely erratic, don't work over half the day, and building and maintaining the infrastructure is an expensive and inefficient nightmare. Fusion or Teslas idea of harnessing the electricity that's in our atmosphere are going to be how we go forward.
SiegVicious t1_j0ye9lt wrote
Solar and wind energy is not the answer to our energy problems. They are extremely erratic, don't work over half the day, and building and maintaining the infrastructure is an expensive and inefficient nightmare. Fusion or Teslas idea of harnessing the electricity that's in our atmosphere are going to be how we go forward.
davidfavel t1_j0yeaj0 wrote
You forget how screwed they were when the probe seaching for whales messed up the sky.
elenchusis t1_j0yerir wrote
Ok, let's say your house has power and nothing else in the area does. You will have no internet. No phone. No TV. Does every single store in the area also have a solar array? Is every car electric? There will always be a need for a power grid, and it will always be a problem if it's knocked out
UniversalMomentum t1_j0ylnho wrote
One problem about a lot of people being on solar is that we do know volcanic activity can significantly reduce incoming solar radiation for awhile.
Most other scenarios are not ubiqie to green power, but something like a super volcano, could specifically exploit a weakness in high reliance on solar and large volcanoes are one of the most common global disasters.
BuckminsterFullerest t1_j0ynmn3 wrote
Competing power structures seem to be a universal theme; seems like there will always be some group blowing up things and taking down the power grid. Unless the future you speak of is populated by exclusively enlightened human beings. ;)
Surur t1_j0yrodk wrote
30% of detached homes have solar in Australia, and in Japan all new homes have to have solar, and they replace their homes every 30 years.
Surur t1_j0yrunc wrote
> use enormous amounts of energy and resources that can't currently be supplied through renewable sources
Nonsense. In fact the carbon impact of Chinese solar panels are reducing because their grid is becoming cleaner.
Karthathan t1_j0yzede wrote
If a car can run into a power pole now, I bet they can run into a power pole then XD
Blue-Phoenix23 t1_j0z0cu9 wrote
This is what makes sci-fi so fun. Imagine aliens terraforming our atmosphere to create a nuclear winter that kills most native life! Or a bacteria evolves that destroys all metal (like wind turbines or solar panels), that would set energy technology WAY back. There are some fantasy type novels out there with a similar hidden backstory - some type of technological destruction followed by humanity evolving to have magic, sometimes with the help of alien life forms or exposure to something that changes the DNA
jscharfenberg t1_j0zkc94 wrote
Why can't technology go wrong and bring everything to an end?
Hyval_the_Emolga t1_j0zrvk7 wrote
All the sustainable decentralized green technology in the world isn’t gonna matter if something happens to the supply chain and destroys its ability to replenish
ex global war, disease that destroys a significant portion of mankind, a maybe-science-maybe-magic rapture-like scenario, fiction will find a way
Hopefully the universe will not lol
BigFitMama t1_j0zvp5m wrote
I've been contemplating how long would modern solar cells and their infrastructure last off the grid with people of limited tech skills maintaining them? And without out a global communications system you'd be limited to instructional manuals and troubleshooting what you downloaded offline or printed out.
It is easier to maintain a hydroelectric generator and even easier to maintain waterwheel/gear "power" systems as well as gravity fed water pumps because they don't require computers or a storage system for the momentum them produce.
strvgglecity t1_j100jfw wrote
AI shuts off the power. you're welcome for the free story idea.
_NightmareKingGrimm_ t1_j100ne1 wrote
I doubt solar will ever take over... But, if you've been following the news lately, you probably know that nuclear fusion was just achieved (at a very small scale; scientists estimate 10 years or more before it's widely available).
When fusion becomes a primary energy source, and when fusion reactors can eventually be downsized, that's going to be a very interesting time to be alive. Fusion produces an insane amount of clean energy-- for every one part of matter, fusion produces something like 9×10^16 parts of pure energy. Imagine that kind of power accelerating a spacecraft or satellite.
...Conversely, imagine the horror of that kind of power being weaponized.
Cpleofcrazies2 t1_j106ivk wrote
Well there is still the issue of the delivery system of the power unless every building has its own solar or wind or geothermal system
Working_Sundae t1_j108bjm wrote
There is something called base load that is currently established by power sources like coal, natural gas,oil and nuclear, these sources are continuous and are available on demand.
Currently Wind and solar are everything on top of the base load.
What Fusion does is ,it replaces the Fission nuclear and other base loads like coal, natural gas and oil.
While solar and wind energy will continue to increase no matter what.
Energy provided by Wind and solar is higher than Nuclear energy in 2021., so renewables are going to keep adding up, and once fusion comes it will clean up the grid by relacing dirty coal, natural gas and oil.
Inspirata1223 t1_j10eiqq wrote
I don't foresee power decentralizing much. At least not here in the states. My bet is on movies about water wars.
Actorjoefarley t1_j10r1lq wrote
Induction wave bomb, like a nuclear bomb without the radiation or blast. But turns anything silicone into dust, all power, just about everything stops working. Then crazy shit happens. No computers for years.
themilkman42069 t1_j10rzpc wrote
Why do you think inefficient energies that are “decentralized” are going to “take over”?
soulwind42 t1_j10sqg7 wrote
Power won't be totally decentralized because large scale production still has to happen. That still leaves the possibility for collapse, just slower and more drawn out. Like, you can still charge your phone and power your TV, but ever day there are less channels, less websites. Slowly the darkness, the silence, comes for you.
MasterShoNuffTLD t1_j10zbxg wrote
Maybe quicksand will come back.. what happened to all that? Or movies will just be happy tunes like in demolition man
SupernovaGamezYT t1_j11f1sd wrote
I think that’s worse
Godtrademark t1_j11v64q wrote
As a political philosophy student it really hurts to see all this futurism with the obvious conclusion ignored: political organization matters. It doesn’t matter how much you believe the new technologies will matter, technicians are required for all these things, and technicians are a vulnerable anomaly of the modern world. It’s just as likely technical sciences are lost (diverted for war, domination, profit, etc.) into a new dark age as it is to enter a cornucopian age where technology serves the developmental use for a utopian society.
Godtrademark t1_j11vepp wrote
Sci-fi especially has always been a social commentary for this reason. In fact, most fiction is. OP would be surprised to learn that sci fi looked way different in the 19th century, for example.
Shag0ff t1_j11wozz wrote
I believe energy crisis will still be a factor actually. Think if this one; After searching for the closest planets for sustainable life, the further we are from our source of light that we know we can harness. Further from out dwarf star the less energy that can be produced. So the liability of this all being a problem is still real
redditwithafork t1_j121tlm wrote
And the worst part is, it's SO easy to shield against an EMP, that we're going to deserve every ounce of it when it finally does happen to us.
It's especially "easy" if we were to start at the highest levels of infrastructure and work our way down to hand held radios and small consumer electronics.
But.. like with covid and every other catastrophe.. we do NOTHING until we're IN the shit, then it's a mad dash to hash together a program haphazardly after the fact, and use the event as an excuse to point fingers and blame the other political party for the lack of planning and botched response.
nivenfan t1_j122x63 wrote
People have a tendency to use as much power as they can create. Modern conveniences have gotten more energy efficient over the years, but we negate the gains by buying more TVs, phones, cars, refrigerators, deep freezers, etc. In the future, I can imagine most writing devices having an optional light built into them. Your jacket will have LEDs and charge wirelessly on the rack. Simple things that don't use electricity today will use them tomorrow while we continue to hope fusion becomes a real power source.
spookinky987 t1_j12ops8 wrote
And an ample opportunity for kickbacks and graft by those in charge.
WrenchLurker t1_j13es7x wrote
A world powered by solar or green energy is more likely to lose power, and will still require one or more much more efficient non-renewable energy sources as backup.
TheCulture1707 t1_j15mks1 wrote
Sci-fi's always going to be dated in 20 - 30 years, unless it's the very rare type e.g. 2001. Even now I'll watch a sci-fi movie made in the past 2 years, that is meant to be set 50+ years in the future, and it'll have an internal combustion engined'd car/truck complete with diesel engine sounds, and the displays will be basically modern day LCD panels.
Sure banks of flat LCD panels look sleek now, but then so did banks of fishbowl CRT panels in the 1980's and look how dated they are now.
My prediction would be, if Fusion isn't developed in 50 years, hopefully they will invent a very good, cheap, energy dense, quick to charge energy storage mechanism. E.G. something the size of a laptop battery, that holds 5 times as much, doesn't degrade, can charge in 5 minutes, and costs $10. Then the actual energy source won't matter so much as there'll be so much storage to use.
And I guess a sci-fi story can involve fighting over a windmill or hydro plant so the heroes can charge their batteries to power an RV - like Mad Max though instead of fighting for a rig of guzzoline, they can fight to charge a trailer battery that would last a month and can then be recharged again.
A plot point might be these storage solutions are very volatile, after all they would be very energy dense, that would be a problem to fix
science-is-realz t1_j1tcc9s wrote
If anything it will be less reliable, being dependent on the weather
fidelesetaudax t1_j0xeskk wrote
There’s always a way to make a semi-believable storyline. Alien attacks. Solar flares. Sunspots. EMP’s. If Batman can call from the moon to earth and live, any of those can cause worldwide power disruption for those willing to be entertained.