Paul Tinari says self-driving cars, increased solar power and more in B.C.'s future

Self-driving cars, 3D-printed buildings and more efficient solar power — all these technological developments will likely be in B.C.'s future, according to Paul Tinari, an internationally renowned environmental and engineering consultant.

"Most people see 3D printing as a cute little technology that makes fancy little toys," said Tinari, who's written extensively on the advancement in his book, The Joom Destiny. 3D printing involves making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file.

"The Chinese are pioneering the printing of entire buildings — five-storey apartment buildings in 24 hours with 3D printing," Tinari said.

Our Vancouver invited Tinari, also known as 'Dr. Future', to comment on some of the top issues in Canada from 2015, and offer predictions on how those issues will play out in the future.

Tinari said that although Vancouver city council chose to ban Uber, there will be increased competition coming to the taxi industry from driverless cars. 

He also predicted that technological advances will help cities like Vancouver become more sustainable. For example, he said solar panels are growing more efficient every day, going from 16 per cent efficiency up to 80 per cent. Tinari said those improvements will allow every house in Vancouver to become a power generating centre.

"So, in the future the BC Hydro grid will not be used to supply power to buildings, it will be used to move power around from building to buildings."

In the video above, Tinari tells guest host Jason D'Souza how refugees will help grow Canada's population, and how new technology will help cities become more sustainable, but may mean a loss of jobs in some sectors.