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?
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.