THAR ENGINEERING

With a reactor using a hydrogen reactant the common indicators of fusion are the neutron emission load.  Yes, fusion is happening, but neutrons are notoriously difficult to shield, and they are inimical to life, relegating a scaled up reactor to a location far from any population centers, and it would be impractical for transportation due to the neutron load and the shielding necessary which would take up all of the cargo capacity.  It's just not practical for the foreseeable future.

Development of an alternative compact fusion reactor is progressing, and from a throretical point of view the design that has the most potential is called a "Recyclotron" (sounds like it was coined in the '50s) which uses multiple ionized fuel streams accelerated to about 0.3C resulting in a combined collision velocity exceeding relativistic speeds.  The key here is the nature of the fuel: if hydrogen is not considered the field of possibilities is severely limited, but there is one that would be viable.  For the moment it will remain proprietary, but suffice it to say that if it does pan out the neutron load would be reduced to a practical zero level.  Tha primary advantage is this fuel is quite common, and the fusion products are limited to alpha particles, which with an appropriate target material can be directly harvested as direct current and can be effectively shielded using a piece of cardboard, and helium.  Notice?  No neutrons to shield.  Suddenly the bulk is reduced by a factor of a thousand, and given that it should be scalable up or down to power a blender or an entire state it becomes a panacea for sustainability. 

Aviation will be affected as well given the recent progress in plasma driven thrust engines that use no fuel whatsoever, just air and heat.  Imagine an aircraft that could fly for an unlimited amount of time, only landing to load / unload cargo, provisions, passengers, and crew.  It also raises the possibility of permanently flying megaaircraft on prearranged flight paths above FL 500 that use smaller landers to upload / download cargo, passengers and crew.

For the last ~two centuries we have been basing our progress on finite resources, and seem to be of the opinion that they are not limited.  Add to that the environmental changes that have been happening i.e. "global warming".  Regardless of the effect we may or may not have on the environment the reality is there has been a warming trend for the last century, and it seems to be accelerating in the last decades.