General
Could the prolonged destruction of Middle Eastern infrastructure accelerate peak oil and gas; significantly increase the use of solar and wind power, batteries, electric cars and bicycles; and accelerate the migration of tax exiles to countries that are a better bet security and living environment wise?
People Change:
The World Obesity Federation estimates that the number of obese children worldwide will grow from 180 million in 2025 to 227 million in 2040 with a further half billion overweight.
Chinese authorities have approved brain implants to help restore the hand movements of severely paralysed patients.
Migration:
According to the Brookings Institution, America experienced net migrations of between minus 10,000 and minus 295,000 in 2025.
According to the US Department of Labor, 42% of hired crop farmworkers in the USA lacked legal authorisation to work.
Food and Water:
According to the WHO – UN Children’s Fund, in 2024 2.1 billion people lacked access to safely managed drinking water services; 3.4 billion lacked safely managed sanitation; and each day women in 53 countries spend 250 million hours collecting water.
Climate Change and the Environment:
There were record breaking floods in Nairobi, Hawaii and the Middle East.
Research published in Nature estimates that on average people over 65 experience 900 hours yearly when heat restricts safe outdoor activity compared to 600 hours in 1950.
A study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found global heating has increased from 0.2C per decade between 1970 and 2015 to 0.35C over the past decade.
Research published in Nature suggests poor modelling under-estimated average global sea levels by 30 cm and those in SE Asia by up to 150 cm.
Low Cost Renewable Energy:
GlobalData predicts global renewable capacity will more than double to 8.4 TW by 2031, including nearly 6TW of solar PV.
According to BloombergNEF wind power capacity installed in 2025 was 38% higher than in 2024 at a record 169 GW, including 160 GW onshore and more than 100 GW in China.
According to the EIA, combined generation for wind and utility scale solar provide 17% of 2025 American electricity.
A joint report from the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence calculated that in 2025 American battery installations increased 30% to 57.6 GWh.
According to BloombergNEF battery costs dropped markedly in 2025 while the cost of wind and solar installations increased.
Researchers at Seville’s ICMS have developed a hybrid perovskite solar cell that generates electricity from both sunlight and raindrops.
Rondo Energy inaugurated the world’s largest thermal battery. The Huai’an Salt Cavern project is now the world’s largest compressed air energy storage facility. Alfa Laval and South Korea’s Institute for Advanced Engineering are planning a liquid air energy storage facility. Australian scientists have developed the first proof of concept quantum battery.
India’s cumulative installed battery energy storage system is projected to grow from less than 1 GWh today to 346 GWh by 2033.
According to Wood McKenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar (54%) and storage (25%) provided the bulk of new American electricity capacity in 2025.
The American government has offered TotalEnergies US$ one billion to end its offshore wind leases and instead invest in LNG exports; meanwhile the Australian government is assisting Rio Tinto with A$ two billion to convert its smelter operations to use renewable energy. America’s first new oil refinery in 50 years is to be built in Texas.
Autonomous Electric Vehicles:
Autonomous vehicle companies are partnering with Uber which owns data on its 180 million monthly users and the billions of trips they have taken.
Uber will invest up to US$ 1.25 billion in electric truck maker Rivian and buy 50,000 autonomous vehicles as it moves from human drivers to robotaxis.
A 58% increase in Chinese car shipments in 2025 led to China overtaking Japan as the largest car exporter.
Mass Data Mining and Storage:
Google forecasts that quantum computers could crack all cryptographic security by 2029.
Codewall hacked McKinsey’s much vaunted AI systems.
