What would the repercussions be if we found free energy?

Question

What would the repercussions be if we found free energy?

Answer 1

We would ascend.

Answer 2

A big corporation would find a way to exploit it in a short time and it would no longer be free .

Answer 3

We already have a couple of different forms of free (and other very low cost) energy.

The result was millions of dollars have been spent to deny it to the people - so the power companies profits are protected.

Answer 4

Well, we Already have!!

It's called Hydrogen!

We can get it from our Water, it's Cheap to Get from Water, and we can buy or even Build a Device that gets the Hydrogen from the Water!!

It just Cost's to Use it, because a Hydrogen Fuel Cell is VERY Expensive. (Realy not much Available, YET!)

Once we have Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles for several Years (Like our HDTV's), then we will ALL have the Ability to use Free Energy!!!!

:)

Answer 5

Govt. would fall apart, stock market crash, for a while of course. We'd get back on track eventually. Even if the energy was limitless, they'd probably somehow tax us for it.

(I'm just surmising here people)

Answer 6

I completely agree with the top contributor~

Answer 7

I'm not sure just what you mean by "free energy"?

First, there is no such thing as free energy. It will always cost Something to acquire and apply energy no matter what the source. And it will always be a finite amount and limited at any given time.

Now with renewable sources of Cheap energy like breeder reactors, geothermal, and solar power satelites, the economy and civilisation itself would be in a much different situation.

Cheap energy that is widely available means you can do more in less time and with much lower pollution costs and you have a high surplus of production beyond the necessities of life. At the least we could have a very prosperous society with out inflation or absolute poverty.

The cost of energy has Always been critical throughout history. Pre-industrial civilisations had despots and slaves and serfs and life was short and miserable for most people because most people had to work the fields to feed themselves and also their rulers and priests opressors. There were artists and craftsmen and clerks and scholars and traders in cities but they were a minority. And civilisations were damaged and eventually collapsed from natural disasters that disrupted the harvest.

Wind and water power helped to improve the situation and fossil fuels made industrialisation possible which brought some progress and dramatically changed society.

Today, most people living in 1st world countries live very well compared to their ancestors and many people in the 3rd world do too but many more are living in absolute poverty.  

There are other reasons for this than just energy costs, of course. But the increasing costs of producing and distributing fossil fuels that are finite and no longer plentiful plus the polution costs of using them is already doing a job on this civilisation.

If we had a lot of "free" energy, we could be free from worring about the cost of basic necessities and be free from worrying about most pollution that we generate and could in effect have a much better quality of life with less time and effort.

What would we all be doing with all that extra time and resources? Well, I don't know but let's just say society would be very different.

I think it would be the end of civilisation as we know it  :)