if politics were not a problem.

Interesting thought exercise. In a world where we solve everything through engineering and politics do not exist, I could see:

- Engineering homes and offices to be underground in most places so the earth insulates the homes, giving the walls a constant temperature and reducing the need for HVAC. Use geothermal heating and cooling where possible. Use solar and other forms of energy storage beyond that. This frees up land for other things and takes a good deal of the load off the energy grid. Water table? Yup, there too. Engineer around it and utilize it. I want adjustable LED lights in the aquifers and that is to be my office window. Some will want natural sunlight. This can be engineered with pipes, mirrors and lenses. This system can even power underground protected solar panels should the above ground weather get extreme.

- Replace most home and office appliances with appliances designed for ships or mobile homes. They cost more but operate much more efficiently. The greatest benefit is to your solar+battery storage.

- Build a vast array of distributed underground human made aquifers. Do not build pipes. Build the same water distribution that is under Rome using modern equipment. Bonus if the equipment is fully automated and solar powered. Seal these tunnels with a material that is anti-microbial, anti-fungal. Use bots/drones to fly through these tunnels, inspecting for cracks, mold, etc...

- Move all aqueducts underground. Currently hundreds of millions of gallons of water evaporate daily. This will become more problematic if global climate change means hotter weather. The aqueduct feeding southern California loses 44 million gallons per day alone.

- Build multi-level under-ground tunnels. Lower levels move from continent to continent. Higher levels state/province. Next levels up, city to city. Highest levels, local "city streets". Build giant vertical tunnels for waste disposal, then network these vertical tunnels and use the heat generated from them to create energy and energy-free air-flow. Study ants to see how this works.

- Engineer homes and offices to last for thousands of years. Expensive, but this stops some deforestation and allows families to pass on homes that will last for hundreds of generations. I realize this kills off a few industries.

- Eliminate plastic. Everything must be made from material that is easy to recycle / re-purpose. Very few forms of plastic can actually be recycled. The recycle logo was hijacked by the resin symbol look for the number so people often recycle things that will not ultimately be recycled.

- Build greenhouses where above-ground houses and offices once stood. Build multi-level underground greenhouses using solar power and recycled/recaptured water and atmospheric water generators that are above ground.

- Capture gasses that cause global warming and put them to use. Not just Co2, there are many gasses that cause warming. Find a use for all of them. Co2 can be used in special mixtures of concrete for building the underground facilities.

- Eliminate above ground power transmission lines. Each "pod" or city unit must have its own distributed power grid using every earth friendly option available. PG&E a power company has starting doing this in California, albeit above ground, but getting rid of some transmission lines and implementing solar+generator stations in heavily forested areas.

I suppose none of these are new ideas. Ancient Egypt was a good example of building things in a way that reduce carbon emissions and last for a long time. The temples under the pyramids are still in excellent condition. The underground aqueducts in Rome are a great example of incredible engineering and utilizing gravity. In hind-sight, they made the layers of cities too thin after the volcanic eruptions and some areas are collapsing into the old tunnels. I based these suggestions on if politics were not a problem and in my interpretation that also means money is not a problem. These suggestions are based on everyone working together to keep the earth habitable for a longer period of time.