China is already the world's second biggest user of oil. It is expected to double its consumption within the next ten years. Then there is India, etc. etc.
It is reported that on some days in Beijing the pollution is already so bad that it is impossible to see more than a few yards. Perhaps the world will become aware of this growing problem, if hundreds of millions are ready to watch Olympic soccer but the cameras are unable to find the field.
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Agaricus bisporus:
IMHO, there will still be some valid civilian uses for helicopters. However, the usage may not grow. This will mean that any new product development costs must be amortized over a small number of craft.
Slowrotor;
An idea that was kicked around was related to multi-function components. The idea was to make the fuselage serve as; aerodynamic skin, structural frame and super-capacitor. God knows what happens when lightening strikes. The CNC controller had an 'explosion' last week when I wired a capacitor in the wrong way around.
TheFlyingSquirrel;
Mart's remark relates to 'Dimming the Sun'; [
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/]
It was covered in a very interesting NOVA program a couple of days ago.
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Current rotorcraft have slowly worked their way up to an empty-weight to payload ratio of 50/50. The initial implementation of electric power will return the ratio back to around 80/20.
In addition, the conceptual design objectives of electric rotorcraft will be very different from that of current helicopters. The emphasis will be directed at just keeping the craft off the ground for a reasonable period of time.
