Future City

Many people are wondering what the future city will look like. If I were to look into my crystal ball, what I would see is that future cities will be clean, green and full of optimism and hope.

The city of the future will be cleaner and greener because of solar and hydrogen energy. Elevated hydrogen trains (Hyrail) will be powered by solar energy that electrolyzes water for fuel cells. This electricity will power MagLev Hyrail trains.

Also running through future cities will be, at ground level, hydrogen fuel cell trains (or Hydrail). While Hyrail will most typically be passenger trains, hauling people around the future cities, Hydrail will be using the power of hydrogen fuel cells to haul cargo inside and outside of town.

The future cities of America and elsewhere will also be heavily equipped with solar panels. There will be photovoltaic panels on the rooftops on almost every building and the windows of each building will double as solar panels as well.

And, of course what would a future city be without a future car for every driver? These future cars will run on hydrogen, electricity, biofuels and even air. There may even be a few future flying cars that sail above traffic during rush hour. Thing Jetson or Flux Capacitor, then think again. Prototypes are here now.

In the cities of the future, every building will have smart technology. The smart technology will distribute and conserve energy through the building where it is needed most. Also, many buildings using solar energy will produce more electricity than they consume. They will be tied into the smart grid, selling power back and the smart grid will redistribute the energy in sections of the state and country where it is needed most.

The future city will also be inhabited with huge balloons filled with algae the produce hydrogen. This hydrogen will then either be run through stationary fuel cells to provide energy or be used as fuel for cars.

City life in the future will be a bit different than it is today. Future phones and laptops will have merged into small hybrids with WiFi everywhere and VoIP the standard for carrying voice and video data.

Life in the future city will have people even more plugged in than they are today. Virtual conferencing using virtual reality will be standard.

Future robots will have taken over the many tasks. The Honda ASIMO robot will be in a Tech Museum right downtown. Other kinds of robots will inhabit the future home.

People will only travel for vacation as the need to travel for business will be eliminated with the virtual business world. And for people who do want to go on vacation will do so either on supersonic jets or Maglev bullet trains.

The typical future city will also be filled with people using jetpacks instead of driving their own vehicles or in addition to their vehicles. Fuel grade hydrogen peroxide will power these jetpacks that only emit water vapor and will be able to travel for miles before refueling.

This vision of what the future cities will look like is all based upon emerging technology that is available now. This emerging technology of course has to be refined, downsized in many cases and of production quality. Look for nanotechnology to have taken over in many fields.

The future city will be a bright, hopeful place filled with green energy, interconnectivity and applied virtual reality.