At some point, Lovins contends, gasoline-based cars will give way to more energy-efficient -- and environmentally friendly -- alternatives. He has high hopes for a hydrogen-burning car that could get the equivalent of 90 miles to the gallon, but concedes that it may be a decade away from meaningful production. In the meantime, he is struck by the rapid advances that car companies are making in producing hybrid gasoline-electric cars. This year, Honda and Toyota both launched models that get 50 miles to the gallon or more, and they have been attracting brisk demand.
In fact, in his own job as research CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, Lovins has begun driving a Honda Insight. The hybrid model can go 700 miles on a single tank of gasoline, and "that's quite good," he coyly observes.
We think that the same can be said of all of the breakthrough technologies identified in this edition of Future Tense.
Fast Company senior editor George Anders (ganders@fastcompany.com) keeps his eye on the future from his base in Silicon Valley.
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