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More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

growthbusiness.co.uk

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Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#21

Post by rjmunro »

timmg wrote: post #14

I wonder how this compares to the amount of money invested in crypto startups in the past few years. (I don't mean the value of crypto or the amount of money that was traded into it -- just the amount VCs invested into crypto startups.) I don't know if that means people that allocate capital think crypto has a better chance of changing the world than nuclear fusion -- or if it's something else. But it is strange to c…

Not that it has a better chance of changing the world, just that it has a better chance of making them some money back in a reasonable time.

Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#22

Post by epicureanideal »

ianburrell wrote: post #12
eatonphil wrote: post #3

The article doesn't seem to mention why exactly but I'm guessing it's some combination of 1) visible climate change (extreme heat, wildfires, drought, etc.) so people want better energy sources and 2) the mayhem Russia started seeing as it is one of the bigger energy providers. Or has there been anything else?

REBCO high-temperature superconductors have potentially changed the game. They can support stronger fields which means smaller devices for same confinement. Commercial production seems to only started in the last decade. MIT's research, spun out as CFS, may be prompting other startups.

Is there any fundamental limit we’re hitting on magnetic fields or might we see another 10-100x increase in field strength in the future?

Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#26

Post by missedthecue »

timmg wrote: post #14

I wonder how this compares to the amount of money invested in crypto startups in the past few years. (I don't mean the value of crypto or the amount of money that was traded into it -- just the amount VCs invested into crypto startups.) I don't know if that means people that allocate capital think crypto has a better chance of changing the world than nuclear fusion -- or if it's something else. But it is strange to c…

There are probably a lot more founders with crypto ideas than founders with fusion ideas.

Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#27

Post by barkingcat »

Digital28 wrote: post #2

This is great news. That said, what the literal fuck -- we've previously been investing 1/850,000th of global GDP in one of 4-5 truly promising energy technologies while the world burns before our eyes?

the profits in 1 year from silicon valley can solve world hunger by buying every single man woman child 3 meals a day, every day.

Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#28

Post by kortilla »

timmg wrote: post #14

I wonder how this compares to the amount of money invested in crypto startups in the past few years. (I don't mean the value of crypto or the amount of money that was traded into it -- just the amount VCs invested into crypto startups.) I don't know if that means people that allocate capital think crypto has a better chance of changing the world than nuclear fusion -- or if it's something else. But it is strange to c…

>or if it's something else

It’s something else. Many people want their money invested in something with a good risk adjusted returns. Only a tiny subset of investors invest significant portions of their capital into significantly lower expected value outcomes because they like the field.

Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#29

Post by _Algernon_ »

barkingcat wrote: post #27
Digital28 wrote: post #2

This is great news. That said, what the literal fuck -- we've previously been investing 1/850,000th of global GDP in one of 4-5 truly promising energy technologies while the world burns before our eyes?

the profits in 1 year from silicon valley can solve world hunger by buying every single man woman child 3 meals a day, every day.

source?

Re: More invested in nuclear fusion in last 12 months than past decade

#30

Post by V__ »

eatonphil wrote: post #3

The article doesn't seem to mention why exactly but I'm guessing it's some combination of 1) visible climate change (extreme heat, wildfires, drought, etc.) so people want better energy sources and 2) the mayhem Russia started seeing as it is one of the bigger energy providers. Or has there been anything else?

There seems to be a lot of innovative ideas and a lot of them seem to be quite doable, which is interesting for investors. One I really like is FirstLightFusion [1]. They are using a ballistic system to shoot at a small fuel cube, which creates a fusion reaction and then use the generated heat to power a turbine. There is a nice behind the scene video with some interview from FullyCharged [2].

[1] https://firstlightfusion.com/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1RsHQCMRTw

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