FollowTheBear Posted March 27, 2006 Report Share Posted March 27, 2006 http://www.jet.efda.org/pages/content/fusion6.html They reckon a fusion power station is only 30 years away. This is real progress. As long as I can remember it has always been "50 years away". I really think this is significant yet gets no press. It means that we only need renewable energy for 30 years after which the whole issue of global warming can go away. Maybe humanity and planet earth will survive after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cletus VanDamme Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 http://www.jet.efda.org/pages/content/fusion6.html They reckon a fusion power station is only 30 years away. This is real progress. As long as I can remember it has always been "50 years away". I really think this is significant yet gets no press. It means that we only need renewable energy for 30 years after which the whole issue of global warming can go away. Maybe humanity and planet earth will survive after all. A relative was working on fusion technology back in the 70s. Plasma was confined in a powerful toroidal magnetic field. Unfortunately, maintaining this required a huge amount of energy, which needed to be uninterrupted or the whole thing blows up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FollowTheBear Posted March 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 A relative was working on fusion technology back in the 70s. Plasma was confined in a powerful toroidal magnetic field. Unfortunately, maintaining this required a huge amount of energy, which needed to be uninterrupted or the whole thing blows up! According to the link they have now succeeded in breaking evern on the energy input/output ratio. A new version ten times larger will apparently produce a 500% surplus. IMO developing nuclear fusion would be one of the greatest developments since the industrial revolution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brooki Posted April 21, 2006 Report Share Posted April 21, 2006 Have just been watching a BBC4 programme about the sun. Apart from BBC4 now being the viewing of choice for anyone that enjoyed BBC2 before it dumbed down, this was well worth watching. The sheer enormity of energy production that occurs on a stellar level is mind blowing. Anyone that did science O' levels knows that every energy source on earth whether oil derived from plankton in prehistoric seas, coal from carboniferous forests or nuclear ores, eventually derives its stored potential energy from the sun. We are star stuff, literally made from the debris sloughed off from our sun as it developed. One gobsmacking fact was that if the entire power from the sun could be harnessed for one second, we could fulfill all of our current global energy needs for the next million years. Now if that could be harnessed more directly... Slightly more down to earth, a developer of stirling dishes reckoned he could power San Diego with a 5 square mile dish farm. TLM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FollowTheBear Posted April 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Slightly more down to earth, a developer of stirling dishes reckoned he could power San Diego with a 5 square mile dish farm. TLM Hmm, had a google at stirling dishes. There is a scheme in France which uses solar energy to generate power via a steam turbine, but I reckon the stirling engine is the way forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubble Pricker Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Just like Nuclear Fission, Nuclear Fusion will be one other type of power. It will not replace wind farms not will it change the way we live. The only conceivable way to produce energy with nuclear fusion is in large power stations. Nuclear fusion will thus compete with other forms of power generation such as fission, coal, wind, etc. in terms of cost and efficiency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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