Soleron on 05 October 2008
This and nuclear fusion are the two inventions I would most like to see working.
Nuclear fusion is similar to how the Sun works: the raw material is hydrogen from water and the product is helium - both of which aren't dangerous. There would be an extremely low level of radioactivity from tritium (hydrogen-3) but it has a short half-life and would only have to be held in temporary storage. The energy yield is massive and there is no pollution, and there is no threat of nuclear fallout for example. The only problem is that we don't yet have the materials and technology to contain the fusion reaction (it's the "Sun in a box") but the ITER project looks promising*.
*But the US government pulled all funding for no apparent reason.
