Within each State, regional compacts were established and a myriad small, but self-sufficient communities like ours sprang up. The decentralization and fragmentation of federal and State governments gave way to local governance, enabled by the diffusion of technical knowledge and by a strong infrastructure. This rapid change was precipitated by the deregulation of the energy industry, which forced utilities to compete for local markets and to diversify. The interlinked sets of compact generators trade on demand and enabled each region now to optimally exploit its own energy niche. Here in Death Valley, the mountaintops are sporting wind-turbine farms.
Desalination plants irrigate the thirsty California farming filds and orchards.
Stand-alone fuel cells are also widely used to power hospitals, plants and public buildings, using municipal wastes as primary fuels. Not far from here, the Great Salt Lake has been converted to a saline pond for solar to chemical energy conversion and storage. Its true that global warming has caused so much upheaval these last decades, but it also brought decisive action and improved understanding of how to manage the downside and exploit the upside. True, the global climate is still changing, but we can foresee and prepare for regional trends. Indeed, our local weather is unpredictable, but our superfast teraflop optical computers can handle better the complexity of 3-dimensional climate models.