Progress is sometimes made not because of people or organisations around you, but in spite of them.
It feels that way in Australia at the moment with the government agreeing to a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Luckily, businesses and consumers are already progressing down that path and I believe that more changes will start to occur quicker than we expect. And, of course, technology will play a major part in all of this.
Firstly, we will have more options for remote connectivity or to work from home.
There is a board I sit on that involves travel that is longer than the actual board meeting. For several years I requested the ability to join meetings remotely only to be told it wasn't an option. Guess what? For the last 18 months, we have met remotely.
The challenge for organisations will be balancing a hybrid workplace as we come out of restrictions, but there will definitely be more work-from-home options for employees.
That will reduce the number of cars on the road, which will reduce pollution.
Also in the news:
We will even see more bike lanes as e-bikes grow in popularity and with fewer cars more people will see their commute by bike as a viable option.
Airlines have had a tough time during the pandemic and the long-term outlook is not so rosy for them.
Aviation accounts for about two per cent of all carbon emissions so I think there will be a few changes on the horizon. The amount of international travel will reduce.
Rather than distant European holidays, I think we will see shorter flights to closer locations. Still some international, but more domestic and we may well be flying on an electric or hydrogen plane before we know it.
Much to my delight, I think we will see gas in homes become a thing of the past.
Twenty-one years ago when I built my home, our area had recently been connected to part of the 25,000km of gas pipelines throughout the state.
When I told my builder I didn't want gas and would prefer all items to be electric, he thought I was crazy. I used electricity throughout despite his opinion of my sanity. In the near future, we will see homes moving away from gas and installing solar hot water, induction cooktops and reverse-cycle air-conditioning.
Progress is sometimes made not because of people or organisations around you, but in spite of them.
Electric Vehicles (EVs) will finally start to take off. Changing to EVs alone could meet 40 per cent of our emissions reduction target by 2030.
The last federal election in 2019 was very frustrating. One side of politics said that EVs would "wreck our weekends" and the other side said we should have a target of half of new car sales to be electric by 2030.
At the time I said that both sides were wrong. I didn't understand how driving a car that was quieter and more powerful than any car I had driven before was going to diminish my weekends and I also firmly believed that we would see half of our sales electric by the year 2030 with no government intervention.
Hertz in America has just ordered 100,000 electric vehicles. This will comprise a quarter of their fleet.
One study shows that if Australia moved to all new car sales being electric by 2035, our nation would save $492 billion.
There is one thing permanent in life - and that is change. We can embrace it and take advantage of it or get in the way. Either way it is going to happen.
Send an e-mail to ask@techtalk.digital and tell me biggest change you think we will see in the next five years.
- Mathew Dickerson is a technologist, futurist and host of the Tech Talk podcast.
