The scientists used lasers to fuse two light atoms into a single one, releasing 3.15MJ (megajoules) of energy from 2.05MJ of input – roughly enough to boil a kettle.

Why do we even study this? Renewables are the only way. This is a waste of money which is a finite resource.

  • jeff@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    So 1. This is newable. Green, almost waste free, and unlimited.

    If we can refine fusion, we will stop global warming and energy insecurity, virtually overnight.

    It’s not a waste to invest in clean tech R&D. At one point, people said the same thing about solar, and look where we are now

      • CTDummy@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        In the way the other poster compared them? Yes, in so far as people who complain “the new, developing technology isn’t immediately as optimised and refined as I want it to be” for both.

        • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Do you have a basic understanding of the challenges of getting electricity from a fusion reaction vs the challenges of manufacturing PV panels?

          • CTDummy@lemm.ee
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            11 months ago

            Seeing as you deliberately seem to be missing the point in order to try and feel smarter I’m going to leave you to it. Have a good one.

            • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              We can carry on throwing money at it, I’m fine with that. Thinking that fusion is going to save us is dangerous though. We need to be taking action now to get us off fossil fuels and the most cost-effective way to do that is renewables + storage.

      • neuropean@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        Fusion is constant, wouldn’t require large amounts of batteries to store energy. There are advantages to each.

        • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          It’s not though, not withstanding stars. We’ve managed 17 minutes so far. We’re so far away from turning this into a useable power source that it’s absurd.

          • YungOnions@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            So? The trick is to keep developing the technology, not give up because it doesn’t immediately deliver unlimited energy.

            • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              We’ve been working on fusion in one form or another for nearly 100 years. We’re still nowhere near turning it into a useable energy source. I don’t really care if research continues or not, I’m sure the research can be useful in other areas but fusion is not going to save us.