Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
theguardian.com
Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#2Already discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23979608
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#3Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure.
It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#4Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure. It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
I'm honestly surprised where these fantasies come from.
In order to get that energy you'll have to build a hugely complex industrial installation. That won't be for free. It won't be easy. If it will even be possible remains to be seen. You'll still need transmission lines and other infrastructure that costs money.
Whether it'll work and if it works whether it will be cost competitive to renewable energy (still improving and getting cheaper) remains to be seen. But it almost certainly won't be "virtually unlimited".
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#5Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure. It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years
From the little I know about it, this damage you talk about only means getting CO2 levels back to normal. Great, but by the time that becomes realistic (seems no sooner than 2050 since that's about when there will be a demo, and only a demo) it's getting a bit too late for all side effects, i.e. global warming and all damage which comes with it. Add to that the whole latency of the system, and I'm not too optimistic.
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#6Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure. It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
Someone I think on a slashdot post calculated that we'd have to process about half the planet's atmosphere to get back theCO2, that is liquefy that much atmosphere to collect the CO2.
Then we'd have to put I guess hundreds of cubic kilometres of liquid co2 somewhere. I long ago lost any hope we will deal with it.
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#7Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure. It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
I'm honestly surprised where these fantasies come from. In order to get that energy you'll have to build a hugely complex industrial installation. That won't be for free. It won't be easy. If it will even be possible remains to be seen. You'll still need transmission lines and other infrastructure that costs money. Whether it'll work and if it works whether it will be cost competitive to renewable energy (still impro…
I feel it will be waaaay cheaper than any alternatives though (order of magnitudes, that we are likely forced to be spending on this regardless).
If success was guaranteed money wouldn't really matter.
Though part from success we have deadlines etc. that complicate the matter further. Regardless, this is welcome news.
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#8I'm not sure where people are getting this terminology of "unlimited" energy from fusion. Nothing in the universe is unlimited. The earth's supply of deuterium and/or tritium is not unlimited.
It's also not infinitely "clean" energy. A fusion reactor is not a black box that is built once and never again maintained or rebuilt, or doesn't use any consumable components besides fuel.
We already have the technology that gives us nearly clean energy, namely nuclear (fission) reactors. If we truly want to reduce CO2, we should be ramping up nuclear power, as a bridge to switching to renewables in the long term. If only nuclear power wasn't so politically... radioactive.
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#9Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure. It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
Someone I think on a slashdot post calculated that we'd have to process about half the planet's atmosphere to get back theCO2, that is liquefy that much atmosphere to collect the CO2. Then we'd have to put I guess hundreds of cubic kilometres of liquid co2 somewhere. I long ago lost any hope we will deal with it.
Taking in mind absorption rate by plants, I wonder if you could do a controlled release in somewhere like a rainforest such that a minimal amount would make it back into the atmosphere and a majority would be taken in by trees and plants. Alternatively build large green houses and vertical farms and pump it directly into there.
Re: Nuclear Fusion Project, Iter begins assembly
#10Virtually unlimited clean energy like that would allow us to vacuum back the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reverse the damage we’ve done in the past 200 years, while allowing us to continue with our fossil fuel infrastructure. It’ll also enable unlimited desalination which would allow more crops and a lot more food, ending a whole mess of problems.
Someone I think on a slashdot post calculated that we'd have to process about half the planet's atmosphere to get back theCO2, that is liquefy that much atmosphere to collect the CO2. Then we'd have to put I guess hundreds of cubic kilometres of liquid co2 somewhere. I long ago lost any hope we will deal with it.
You're missing the trick. If you've got "free" energy, you can reverse the process: combine the CO2 with water and turn it back into high density hydrocarbon solids that you can safely bury. Or, if you can pick the hydrocarbon, use them in construction.
Doesn't help with the amount of gas you'd need to process, but the storage part is doable.