This is really limited to the western hemisphere. Eurasia is likely fucked due to a variety of reasons, but if the US can successfully decouple itself from the international petro-economy, and simply keep its energy independence, then America will not face the international collapse that climate change and fossil fuel dependence will cause.

Nuclear power is the only electricity source capable of producing clean power at scale and on demand. Renewables are a decent supplement but wind and solar requires specific locations, lots of land, and good weather. Nuclear power is also effectively infinite as the spent fuel can be repurposed into more fuel producing very little waste. The reason there still is so much nuclear waste, is because it’s generally illegal to refine plutonium because it can easily be repurposed into nuclear weaponry….

….and here is the problem. Nuclear power is dangerous, extremely dangerous. Managing fission or fusion requires the utmost competence, transparency, and oversight. Although I’m an ardent capitalist and largely fiscally conservative, the private sector is not capable of handing any nuclear industry. Nuclear power must be nationalized by the federal government and overseen by a rigid security/efficiency apparatus on par with the military.

Such an organization would be expensive, but mark my words as things get more dire and average Americas sour on Big Oil and their greed, legislation will empower the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to combine to oversee federal nuclear plants capable of providing infinite electricity to every corner of the continent, likely the entire hemisphere. Obviously, this won’t be free, but without the threat of private competition, this government monopoly on electricity could, would, and should eliminate private energy utilities, and relegate coal, oil, and gas to uses in heat, export, or manufacturing, not domestic energy production.

Moreover, having a single federal power company would provide the American voter with the ability to directly gauge the performance of their government, specifically the president. Instead of morons who today say things like “gas was cheaper when ‘X’ was president,” as if the president controls gas prices, wise voters will remark on their electric bills and judge the presidents performance based on the average cost per kWh. Prices should and can be extremely low, nuclear is extremely efficient and almost too cheap to meter. Presidents who disregard the nuclear power infrastructure or allow prices to balloon will be rightfully punished and likely voted out. Presidents who keep the lights on with zero accidents and cheap-as-possible clean electricity for residential AND commercial use will see skyrocketing approval ratings and economic activity.

Normally I’m a climate doomer. I sincerely don’t see any way out for most people on the planet, if climate change doesn’t boil them with heatwaves or cause fooding that drowns them, the cancer caused by toxic pollution due to coal, oil, and gas burning will get them. Whereas Nuclear radiation is extremely easy to monitor, and mark my words if this glorious future arises, Geiger counters will be household fixtures while smog and air pollution will become a distant memory.

TL;DR: if the US is to survive climate change without social collapse, commercial fossil fuel use for electricity will be completely eliminated, and the federal government will nationalize nuclear power to provide cheap, abundant, and clean energy for eons to come. Future governments will be judged based on their ability to maintain cheap electricity prices and avoid nuclear accidents.

In my heart of hearts I don’t actually believe this, and instead climate change will cause mass riots, deaths, and governmental collapse while parts of the US become uninhabitable due to unregulated fossil fuel pollution.