> I expect from today onward there will be a full-scale attack from those who stand to lose because of the reduced dependency on oil.
Maybe. But remember we don't have the technology yet to completely move away from fossil fuels. The biggest issue I know of is making Airplanes electric which so far has not proven really feasible (as far as I can find anyway). This solves a huge chunk of issues but there are still plenty more before we can claim we have the technology to completely transition.
As I recall, Musk says that if you can double current energy densities, electric airliners become feasible. That could happen in some decades.
If that doesn't happen (or if he's underestimating what it takes), then I figure the solution for air travel will be synthetic fuels. Synthetic fuels are not very good right now simply because it takes a lot of energy to make them, but if energy is cheap and abundant because, say, the world is covered in solar panels, it's less of a problem.
Zepplins can be run with very minimal environmental cost. They are slower, though.
Airplanes are extremely energy-hungry and carbon-intensive. Just one intercontinental round trip can put as much carbon per person into the air as a half a year of driving, assuming you have a new-ish car. And yes, this is after dividing the total emissions by the number of passengers.
An intercontinental round trip is in the range of 10-15k miles, right? That's a plausible mileage for 6 months of driving, sure. Would match up with my understanding that fuel use for planes per passenger-mile is about the same as for cars with just a driver.
The big difference, of course, it that it takes a lot less time to travel that many miles in a plane. But on a per-passenger-mile basis they're no worse than non-carpooling cars. Admittedly a low bar.
Elon has been working on an VTOL electric jet. He references his desire to fully develop it often. Obviously, he is extremely busy, but he says he will try and work on it at some point.
Maybe. But remember we don't have the technology yet to completely move away from fossil fuels. The biggest issue I know of is making Airplanes electric which so far has not proven really feasible (as far as I can find anyway). This solves a huge chunk of issues but there are still plenty more before we can claim we have the technology to completely transition.
I'm excited for the possibility however.