The upcoming energy crisis and fusion drives

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

jroswald2001

Guest
Oil prices just hit 70 dollars a barrel and the world is basically running out of oil. Investment in solar technology and geothermal energy, both potentially massive sources of clean, renewable energy, seems to be paltry. There seems to be a lack of political will in empowering areas like Iceland or the silicon and sun-rich saharan Africa, who may yet turn out to be our saviours in this respect. Oil companies should do more to develop these sources of energy. <br />There is much talk about fusion as a possible way out of the problem, but the problems of plasma containment seem to be thwarting progress in this area, and we ae not likely to see an operational reactor for at least 3 decades. Why dont we try developing things in steps? An obvious intermediate to a fusion reactor would be a fusion drive, where requirements for plasma containment are known to be reduced. I firmly believe that innovation in this area may also help us in acquiring the goal of developing a fusion power station. It might also allow us to talk practically of exploiting other (non renewable) energy resources from the solar system, since space transportation capabilities would dramatically increase in the event that such a drive were developed. We have to work on this together, we simply can not afford to continue to rely on oil....it will lead ultimately to wars over ever dwindling energy resources.
 
N

nexium

Guest
Variations of the Farnsworth fusor can likely produce a few grams of thrust in low Earth orbit, but it may have no advantage over an ion engine. Scale up does not look promising, but maybe. A simple fusion drive expells lots of costly dueterium that has not fused.<br />Geothermal energy is possibly cost effectve in Yellowstone National Park, but not even close at most other locations, so not potentually massive.<br /> So far no one has suceeded in making photovoltaic for one dollar per watt = one billion dollars per gigawatt. Solar power towers look more promising and wind power, but cost effective locations are rare even with modest subsidies. Neil
 
M

mlorrey

Guest
The world will always be 'running out of oil'. That being said, every time a more efficient technology is developed, the supply technically increases (since a given amount can satisfy a more efficient demand easier than a less efficient one).<br /><br />Deuterium is not especially expensive, though anything in space is expensive.<br /><br />The Farnsworth device can essentially be looked at as a basic ion drive in a bottle. Given that, I suspect folks should look at using the multigrid technology of that european ion drive to up the fusion rate of the Farnsworth device. I have heard of fusors that have two globe electrodes that work better, so I suspect this is going to be the direction to go in.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts