“This is going to change the world.” “‘Clean energy forever’ [is] now just decades away.” Unfortunately, according to climate scientists, these statements about a recent breakthrough in nuclear fusion range from untrue to wildly optimistic.
“This is going to change the world,” Harvard Law instructorThis content is not available due to your privacy preferences.Unfortunately, according to climate scientists, these statements range from untrue to wildly optimistic. In reality, the experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California actually used 100 times as much energy as it produced, and the day when nuclear fusion can power your laptop is far off, if it ever comes.
An undated artist's rendering of 192 laser beams as they reach target in the center of the National Ignition Facility's Target Chamber at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory federal research facility in Livermore, California, U.S. “Meeting that milestone of energy gain from the laser input isn’t like walking through a doorway to a new future,” Matthew McKinzie, senior director for planning and operations of the climate and clean energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who holds a PhD in nuclear physics, told Yahoo News. “It’s part of a very long-term, slow iteration of improvements.”
The inefficiency of the existing laser isn’t the only limitation. “The laser was built to just fire once per day,” Brian Appelbe, a physicist at Imperial College London who has collaborated with the Livermore lab on fusion experiments,. To provide power at utility scale, “would need a laser that fired about once per second,” he said.
In this 2012 image provided by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a technician reviews an optic inside the preamplifier support structure at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. To be sure, the federal government could theoretically invest significantly more in fusion research directed towards energy production. As Vox’s Umair Irfan, DOE currently spends just $500 million per year on fusion, compared to around $1 billion on fossil fuel energy and $2.7 billion on renewables. And these sums are all but a small fraction of what goes annually to agencies such as NASA and the Department of Defense .
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Energy Department announces nuclear fusion milestone: ‘Clean energy source that could revolutionize the world’In an experiment, using a process called inertial confinement fusion, researchers at the lab in Livermore, Calif., were able to produce more energy than they put into the laser, the first time this has ever been achieved.
Read more »
Energy Department announces nuclear fusion milestone: 'Clean energy source that could revolutionize the world'
Read more »
U.S. Energy Department to spend $3.7 billion on carbon removalThe U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday agreed to commit $3.7 billion to finance projects to remove planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere and meet the nation's goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Read more »
Department of Energy to announce nuclear fusion breakthrough on Tuesday; reportsScientists have apparently made a critical breakthrough in a long-sought energy system that could make clean, carbon-free and non-radioactive electricity production in the decades to come.
Read more »
Department of Energy to announce nuclear fusion breakthrough on Tuesday; reportsLong considered the holy grail of energy production, in the future fusion could provide clean, carbon-free and non-radioactive electricity production.
Read more »
Sam Brinton no longer works for Department of Energy amid luggage scandalFormer Department of Energy official Sam Brinton no longer works for the department, a spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Monday, amid allegations that Brinton has been involved in multiple luggage thefts.
Read more »