I agree with this. The extreme weather keeps getting significantly worse YOY, and a recent extreme temperature spike in the antarctic has scientists worried that our timeline is a lot shorter than previously estimated, which means significant action needs to be soon.
We are making excellent progress with fusion, especially the recent development to use AI to keep the magnetic fields containing the reaction stable, but how long will it be before we have a material that is strong enough to withstand the heat of a literal miniature sun for the years at a time required to run a plant? Just the energy from the magnetic field is strong enough that they’ve developed a super efficient was to use those microwaves to bore holes through the earth’s crust hundreds of times deeper than ever before. So we have to at least come up with something significantly stronger than the pressurized material 2km deep into the earth’s surface.
I am and will remain on the fusion bandwagon, but putting all of our eggs in that basket is a baaaad idea with the current state of things. On that note, that crust-boring technique i mentioned should make geothermal much more viable.
Honestly, I would consider it too late if it ready to build the first commercial plant right now. Building one of those takes a decade or two and building them all over the world takes significantly longer as expertise doesn’t pop up out of nowhere in as many people as you want and neither does funding happen for plants all over the world as the first one isn’t even finished yet.
I don’t think fusion has any chance of being widely deployed by the time that becomes an issue.
I agree with this. The extreme weather keeps getting significantly worse YOY, and a recent extreme temperature spike in the antarctic has scientists worried that our timeline is a lot shorter than previously estimated, which means significant action needs to be soon.
We are making excellent progress with fusion, especially the recent development to use AI to keep the magnetic fields containing the reaction stable, but how long will it be before we have a material that is strong enough to withstand the heat of a literal miniature sun for the years at a time required to run a plant? Just the energy from the magnetic field is strong enough that they’ve developed a super efficient was to use those microwaves to bore holes through the earth’s crust hundreds of times deeper than ever before. So we have to at least come up with something significantly stronger than the pressurized material 2km deep into the earth’s surface.
I am and will remain on the fusion bandwagon, but putting all of our eggs in that basket is a baaaad idea with the current state of things. On that note, that crust-boring technique i mentioned should make geothermal much more viable.
Honestly, I would consider it too late if it ready to build the first commercial plant right now. Building one of those takes a decade or two and building them all over the world takes significantly longer as expertise doesn’t pop up out of nowhere in as many people as you want and neither does funding happen for plants all over the world as the first one isn’t even finished yet.