U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
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Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#2How much of the excess renewable energy is being wasted rather than stored? Maybe fuel generation like hydrogen or ethanol, or kinetic can help make nuclear less crucial?
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#3How much of the excess renewable energy is being wasted rather than stored? Maybe fuel generation like hydrogen or ethanol, or kinetic can help make nuclear less crucial?
Right now it's cheaper to deploy fossil fuels than using one of the more expensive storage technologies. Hopefully with time the price will come down though. Trends are quite promising.
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#4I think that solar/wind + battery (e.g. Tesla Megapack) will make fusion irrelevant.
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#5I think that solar/wind + battery (e.g. Tesla Megapack) will make fusion irrelevant.
Won't batteries run into the Lithium problem? I heard somewhere that the global Lithium reserves allow us to convert the entire car fleet of humanity to electric, but not anything beyond that, certainly not allowing large scale battery deployments that would make a dent.
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#6This is more like "Fusion physicists rally around plan to improve message asking for more money". It's not like there's a serious plan to build a power plant.
Except at Lockheed's Skunk Works, which is quietly plugging away on their own.
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#7I think that solar/wind + battery (e.g. Tesla Megapack) will make fusion irrelevant.
Miniaturized fusion (I know, a long way from this -- but so were computers) would revolutionize everything.
Including transit, shipping, airlines, and other industries where batteries won't quite cut it (not to mention deep-space exploration).
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#8I think that solar/wind + battery (e.g. Tesla Megapack) will make fusion irrelevant.
Won't batteries run into the Lithium problem? I heard somewhere that the global Lithium reserves allow us to convert the entire car fleet of humanity to electric, but not anything beyond that, certainly not allowing large scale battery deployments that would make a dent.
There’s more lithium in earths crust than Lead yet we mine ~50x as much lead. The only limitation on mining lithium is how concentrated is making it more or less expensive to extract. Currently raw Lithium is extremely cheap, it’s highly refined battery grade lithium that’s somewhat expensive.
Rank 33: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth...
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#9I think that solar/wind + battery (e.g. Tesla Megapack) will make fusion irrelevant.
I still think weather does not allow this triplet to cover all scenarios. There are times in the PNW where you won't see the sun for 2-3 weeks, long enough to deplete almost any grid storage solution
Re: U.S. physicists rally around plan to build fusion power plant
#10I think that solar/wind + battery (e.g. Tesla Megapack) will make fusion irrelevant.
Still very useful for space travel, colonies, perhaps even cargo vessels.