Get rid of all long haul planes!
Imagine the earth were actually a bubble containing a perfect vacuum. We could get rid of planes and instead travel by pressurised pod which goes into the ground via an airlock in London and pops out at the other airlock at Sydney, freefalling all the way, using NO ENERGY AT ALL!!!!!! (x 100)
I thought I'd raise it in case someone wants to throw 20 billion my way to 'develop it', despite the teething problems*
---
*
1) The earth is really rather full of stuff
2) If it weren't, we'd lose our orbit, find it difficult to stick to the ground, we'd occasionally risk collapse of the whole thing, tides would be problematic, we'd not have plate techtonics, and ignoring all that (and more), you'd have to use some sort of propellant to direct you to your portal of choice, and eventually the world would be full of propellant residues.
3) Etc.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
