My guess (and everyone from the bloke down the pub to Elon Musk is guessing to some extent) is that we'll se a mix of technologies in their appropriate niches ...... the batteries requied to hammer a 40 ton artic from London to Inverness overnight have yet to be invented (and may be decades away or never) ..... probably AI organised electrified railways constantly looking at the available power on the grid from renewables and nuclear (hopefully sometime fusion rather than fission) shuffling driverless trains to optimise miles vs available power ..... fuel cell trucks to distribute from rail depots and electric rail and buses plus battery electric city cars and scooters for urban transit.
As Howard says ... energy use reduction will play as big a part as generation both in terms of low energy tech and lifestyle and social changes.
Agreed. It's interesting to note BTW that the widespread switch to LED lighting is considered by many energy market analysts to be a major contributor to the current low wholesale price of electricity - which in itself is a major issue for proponents of nuclear power.
The costs of building nuclear power stations (at least, to current designs) is so high that EDF had to get a guarantee of being paid something like £90/MWh for the power that Hinckley Point generates when(if) it ever comes on stream. The current wholesale price is around the £25 mark. This is currently primarily driven (apart from the reduction of consumption previously noted) by the wholesale price of gas, but the costs of offshore wind are dropping so fast that it will probably be cheaper than gas within the next few years.
