What if they cracked the solar cell barrier so they became super efficient? Like a quarter-sized solar cell that powers your entire house, plus charges batteries for plenty of overnight and cloudy-day power. Or they invented a cheap, clean, renewable substitute for gasoline? The idea is that there would be a cheap (virtually free) type of renewable eco-friendly energy.
Sounds like a good thing, right? Maybe, maybe not.
Socio-economic Consequences
Money is just a conduit for transferring energy and effort. Think about it. Most people can’t build a car, especially from raw materials. The money you pay for a car is for all the raw materials, and all the efforts/energy every human had in gathering all the raw materials, processing them, and then shaping them into a fully functioning automobile that’s delivered to the dealership where you bought it. A big part of the price of the car is the energy used to build and ship it.
However, if energy is free then it doesn’t cost as much for anybody to manufacture things. Maybe not automobiles, but smaller things where the raw materials are inexpensive and available. (Not to mention mining crypto, assuming anyone does that anymore.)
