7 Massive Ideas That Can Change the World

Make Airplanes Rechargeable

Tesla. Prius. Volt. The auto industry is stocked with radical new designs that reduce the environmental impact of driving. The airplane industry has been incrementally improving fuel efficiency for decades, but it’s maxing out the potential of current designs and will soon need to come up with a similarly transformative rethink. And it has to move fast. Air travel is set to explode–more than double by 2031–as developing nations grow more prosperous. That growth could eat away at any other improvements we may make from cleaning up cars or energy grids.

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/01/ff-seven-big-ideas/all/