Close on the heels of the 2nd generation design MPS came practical

 zero-point energy generators, there were several designs that produced 

energy. The world was once again impacted by a technological marvel, 

these systems could deliver several kilowatts of  power in a small volume.

The automobile industry changed greatly overnight, at one point the major 

automobile manufacturers were all threatened. GM & Ford went into 

bankruptcy as they were reluctant to adopt this new technology for their 

cars. Chrysler faired better as they embraced the new power plants for their 

cars. After GM's and Ford's bankruptcy, the were reorganized and fresh 

faces made it into top management that embraced change. 

A similar thing occurred in the energy industry, a few energy providers went

bankrupt, but the ones that embraced the changes survived. And what a 

change it was, in a relatively short time all of the industrialized nations went 

from a centralized power grid to home based generation for individual 

houses. The old guard that was used to large scale maintenance on power

lines and large generators changed into something like air-conditioning 

repairmen because the generators that rarely broke down were serviced 

by technicians that came to your house.

The old oil-based economy had many inefficiencies that restrained

economic activity, chief among those being high maintenance costs.

Without these restraints of buying fuel for their cars or paying electric bills,

people had considerably higher disposable incomes. This led to a greater

number of space tourists and a burgeoning personal spacecraft industry. 

With the new power sources and propulsion systems, personal spacecraft 

that could reach low Earth orbit became popular. Larger craft that could

make the voyage from the surface of the Earth to the moon's surface

became fairly common. This created an environment of steady engineering 

refinements to propulsion and power sources, by 2055 a large off world

migration began. Tourism was a driving force for large numbers of people 

going to the moon and Mars, but many chose to stay. Populations on the

moon and Mars exploded with a million people on Mars and two million on

the moon. 

                                         The first Mars city in Hellas Planitia