What if this fusion power thing actually pans out? The ITER is on track, and the scale model test in China earlier this year looked very promising. If we had access to (what from our perspective seems like) infinite clean energy what could we do with it? Transmute elements? Desalinize seawater? Drive a rotating magnetic field the size of the planet for wireless global electric power? What are the limits?
SPARC is on track too. I think it might actually end up a little ahead of schedule.
I don't think widespread fusion power is really possible under capitalism for the same reasons we have so much trouble building fission power plants (it's more about up front costs than it is about waste). But if the Chinese start building tons of fusion power, that might bully the west into doing it so they don't look bad, like the USSR and the space race. And if we actually overthrow the damn system, we'll be able to rapidly roll out fusion power.
However it pans out, I think we'll have fusion around in time to stop some horrible global warming milestone (though which milestone remains to be seen).
Honestly, if fusion turns out to be viable, we could actually do carbon capture. It would change everything.
We can already do carbon capture. Handy things called trees
Let me rephrase: we might actually do carbon capture, with fusion power.
Is there a viable carbon capture technology that's just short a shitload of power?
There are plenty of options, its not so much a shortage of power, as it is being able to power them without generating more carbon than they capture, or close enough that the effects just aren’t economically viable. Cheap clean energy could open a lot of doors.