Apparently the sun is no longer the hottest spot in the Solar System...

[ReallyRong]

.. because it seems that accolade now belongs to a small village near Oxford where they're experimenting with nuclear fusion as the holy grail to meet tomorrow's energy needs when all the oil, coal and gas resources have started to run out. Panacea or nightmare? I can't figure. It's a journalistic piece and I do have reservations about the acccuracy of it - I would have thought that the US would be miles ahead of the rest of the world in this sort of research. Anyhow, there's a link below for anyone with a few minutes to spare.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1194169/Set-controls-heart-Sun.html

 

[Kaiser-Kun]

I thought it'd be my hometown. 46° Celsius last summer.

 

[Fran]

Hmmm... it's the Mail on Sunday, and I'm always sceptical about that paper.

Assuming the report's accurate, I suspect it'll be a panacea if the 'good countries' get it, and a nightmare if the 'bad' ones do.

 

[BenPanced]

"Good" countries = the UK
"Bad" countries = everybody else, including Greenland and -arcticas. Especially Greenland and the -arcticas.

 

[dgiharris]

.. .I would have thought that the US would be miles ahead of the rest of the world in this sort of research. Anyhow, there's a link below for anyone with a few minutes to spare.

The race is on.

https://lasers.llnl.gov/

We have a LASER based Fusion reactor that just came online a month ago. Well, maybe 'online' is the wrong word. But we are definitely on par with the Brits and rest of the world in the race for fusion

I predict that now that we can actually 'see' the horizon of Fusion Power, look for Big Oil to use their political influence to impede progress.

THe best way will be to just keep it 'Academic', restrict funding, and to taunt wind and solar.

IMHO, wind and solar are band aid fixes at best. Wind and Solar are the best means for douping the public and doing a nice slight of hand to prevent real and viable alternatives.

In fact, if I were Big Oil, that is exactly what I'd do. Whip the public into a freezy with wind and solar and down play fusion and nuclear--the only real alternatives.

Mel...

 

[Ruv Draba]

Seems to me that the only way for Good Countries to keep Naughty Technologies out of the hands of Naugthy Countries is to keep them poor so they can't Buy It. I sure hope they understand it's for their Own Good and doesn't make them Naughtier.

 

[Higgins]

Seems to me that the only way for Good Countries to keep Naughty Technologies out of the hands of Naugthy Countries is to keep them poor so they can't Buy It. I sure hope they understand it's for their Own Good and doesn't make them Naughtier.

Santa Claus already has fusion or at least ramjets or some other secret alien technology...anyway, he reportedly knows who is naughty and who is nice.

 

[Thump]

eep, I hope it doesn't blow up I live in Oxford...

 

[Zoombie]

If I were big oil, I'd use the massive money I made too fund a massive ad campaign to build up the green hysteria to the point where nearly everyone is as grim and hopeless as Plot Device, then pioneer into fusion technology and make real bank when all those depressed green hippies are given a way to have electricity without hurting the Earth mother.


Risky!

But also awesome.

 

[dgiharris]

If I were big oil, I'd use the massive money I made too fund a massive ad campaign to build up the green hysteria to the point where nearly everyone is as grim and hopeless as Plot Device, then pioneer into fusion technology and make real bank when all those depressed green hippies are given a way to have electricity without hurting the Earth mother.

You see, this is why you would make a poor overlord and ruthless CEO dictator...

The real money and pay dirt in most economic models are consumables. The reason why oil is a cash cow is becuase it spreads across the population base from businesses to people and is consumed at a fairly high rate.

Problem with Fusion is that there is the potential for less consumption. If they are smart, they will purposely build in a high level of consumption that mirrors oil.

Another problem with fusion is that it seems it would be too clean. The nice thing about oil is that it is dirty, thus it wears out a lot of other parts further lengthening the consumption chain.

Mel...

 

[Plot Device]

If I were big oil, I'd use the massive money I made too fund a massive ad campaign to build up the green hysteria to the point where nearly everyone is as grim and hopeless as Plot Device, then pioneer into fusion technology and make real bank when all those depressed green hippies are given a way to have electricity without hurting the Earth mother.


Risky!

But also awesome.

Grim and hopeless????

 

[ReallyRong]

The race is on.

I predict that now that we can actually 'see' the horizon of Fusion Power, look for Big Oil to use their political influence to impede progress.

Mel...

I might be tempted to agree with you, but the rationale is that this is the substitute for when Big Oil has disappeared up it's own backside.

 

[benbradley]

The article makes fusion sound like a brand new idea, when we've "seen the horizon" for a long time now. As a commercial power source, it's been "ten years away" or even "right around the corner" for the last half century or so.

I'm not saying it will never work or there hasn't been progress made, but the track record has made software "vaporware" (products advertised but never actually written or released) look good in comparison. Commercial fusion may well happen someday, but I'm not holding my breath, or basing any decisions about the future that depend on it.

And I knew all this before reading the article (because I've read it all before):

It might sound too good to be true - and even the most optimistic fusion physicists accept that working fusion power stations are at best more than three decades away

Geez, by then we can ask a computer to help design it, then all we would need is the computer's permission to build it...

 

[dgiharris]

The article makes fusion sound like a brand new idea, when we've "seen the horizon" for a long time now. As a commercial power source, it's been "ten years away" or even "right around the corner" for the last half century or so....

Sorta agree.

I think that with computing power now, plus the advances of lasers (thanks to Moore's law) that we have taken another technological leap forward and it remains to be seen if we will be able to get viable fusion at this new technological level. But I definitely think we will get there in the next 50 years. I'm skeptical of any estimate before that

Mel...

 

[Plot Device]

Geez, by then we can ask a computer to help design it, then all we would need is the computer's permission to build it...

Would that computer per chance be named Deep Thought?

 

[Plot Device]

We need to get it from the moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3

 

[Zoombie]

Grim and hopeless????

Um...talking about the complete collapse of the entire human technological system, turning the world into a crappy, less awesome version of Mad Max over a long, hundred year long period is not grim and hopeless?

Are we talking about the same peak oil thingymagigger?

 

[Plot Device]

Um...talking about the complete collapse of the entire human technological system, turning the world into a crappy, less awesome version of Mad Max over a long, hundred year long period is not grim and hopeless?

Are we talking about the same peak oil thingymagigger?

I do not see this prediction as an example of "grim and hopeless." I see it as "accurate and reality-based." By labeling Peak Oil as "grim and hopeless" there seems to be the unavoidable two-tiered implication that 1) a less-grim scenario exists, and that 2) mine is on the fringes of extremism. But I do not believe any position that rests in the realm of reality and firmly backed up by math should be marginalized as "fringey."

I personally think it would be immoral to remain silent about Peak Oil. The near-universal lament of "Why didn't anyone warn us?" will prove a far more grim and even unbearable thing to hear, IMO.