Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has outlined his plan to save our planet from a global energy crisis - and it's out of this world.
The billionaire entrepreneur, who founded private space travel company Blue Origin in 2000, wants to move heavy industries off the Earth entirely, and build giant factories and solar farms in space.
"Energy is limited here. In at least a few hundred years ... all of our heavy industry will be moved off-planet," Bezos said in a rare interview at the Code conference in California.
"Earth will be zoned residential and light industrial. You shouldn't be doing heavy energy on earth.
"We can build gigantic chip factories in space. We don't have to actually build them here. The Earth shades itself, [whereas] in space you can get solar power 24/7."
However, unlike rival billionaire Elon Musk, Bezos does not think that colonising Mars should be a top priority.
"People will visit Mars, and we will settle Mars, and people should because it's cool, but for heavy industry, I would actually put it in space," he said.
"Let me assure you, this is the best planet. We need to protect it, and the way we will is by going out into space. You don't want to live in a retrograde world where we have to freeze population growth."
Earlier this year, Blue Origin successfully launched and landed a reusable rocket booster for the third time, paving the way for many more people to visit space.
It is thought that the ability to reuse rocket launchers will dramatically reduce the cost of space travel, and opening the door to a range of scientific research and technological development.
Musk, meanwhile, has previously talked about building a city on Mars, and recently revealed plans for a cargo delivery service to the Red Planet.
His company, SpaceX, is developing two spacecraft - the Falcon 9 and the larger Falcon Heavy - that will be capable of transporting astronauts and cargo, with deliveries starting at about £42 million.
SpaceX is also pursuing reusable rocket technology, and successfully landed a reusable Falcon 9 rocket on an ocean platform in April.
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