Fusion - on earth - they have been at it for decades - no realistic chance of success in the foreseeable future.
Fusion - on earth - they have been at it for decades - no realistic chance of success in the foreseeable future.
That's not my reading of it. The international efforts are huge and the protagonists are convinced...as they would be. I think the chances of it working are better than 50/50. In the meantime the Chinese are forging ahead with salt moderated thorium reactors which should help them move away from their massive coal dependence. The recent environmental improvement during their lockdown should prove the importance of this to their government.
I’ve explained why i think it will happen.Originally Posted by Mike T
Magnetic fields and superconductors are orders of magnitude greater, and the improvement is accelerating. Similar to the sun, plasma will be crushed into fusion.
One day it will suddenly become possible.
The reason whyprojects have suffered in the
Past is inter country collaborative public sector projects, with far too many partners each putting in too little each : they are hopelessly inefficient. They are all looking to what they can take out not put in. I’ve been involved in such projects. The Projects are run by huge committees. Same reason EU is an utter failure. Too many round the decision table, too many taking out not putting in.
When fusion happens i think it will be a small but well funded primarily private sector collaboration.
It needs that to have nimble decision making and ruthless efficiency of use of funds.
I also think because of energy density, and the problems in getting energy out, we will change from a world of massive centralised energy plants to a massive number of small units ( which is of course the way of other renewables, but fusion is energy on demand,where renewable storage also has too big a carbon footprint)
Last edited by Oracle; 18-06-2020 at 10:08 AM.
Perhaps someone like Musk will achieve it.
To Gambatte
There are always losses when trying to store electricity as you're probably aware and batteries are no exception. In addition you're going to experience problems with the inverter cutting out when the battery drops below a certain voltage. So the battery will contain energy but you won't be able to use it.
There are companies in the UK who now use a chemical that changes its state as you pump electricity into it. When you transfer this power it releases it to heat your water. It's only a small tank with some plumbing that connects up to your boiler. The good thing is this chemical holds onto the energy for a sustained period of time with reasonable losses so you can heat your water for after work or even next day. It can even be connected to the central heating circuit. I think the storage heating company Fisher uses the technology in one of it's products.
I looked into it last year but the problem I had was pre-heated water entering my boiler could be no more than 25 degrees according to the manufacturer. If it was limited to 70 degrees I would have done it.
Another possibility is to have a simple water tank with two immersions. One low powered and the other high powered. When the weather is bad the low powered one comes on trickling energy in and when the weather is good both come on. To work perfectly you'd need sensors on your roof or otherwise two manual switches with simple timers. If you needed the water only at the end of the day then you'd only need the low powered immersion which on your system would be around 1kw. Oh that's provided the demand elsewhere in your house was low.
Heating water is where most power is being consumed in a home as well as ovens. Think about a washing machine. You put it on 40 degrees. The immersion inside is likely to be 2kw and it heats the water. It uses loads of energy. How many people could just use a cold wash for their low stained clothes and save themselves a fortune in electricity and washing powder. A big squirt of Fairy works well. How many people make one brew and fill the kettle? Costs a fortune over the year.
Fridges. Put a big ice pack in the freezer during the day. As soon as the light goes put it in the top of the fridge. Reduces your power consumption during the night when your solars aren't working. Turn your freezer on lowest temp during the day increase it slightly at night. Fridges use about £60 of electricity per year. You have to think like that when you have solars.
Also anything that uses battery power. Charge it during the day only. Anyway good luck.
Last edited by CL; 18-06-2020 at 02:05 PM.
Oh just remembered something else. The solar panels act like insulators trapping heat inside your house. I realised this when I looked on my roof and the snow was still there. It wasn't on the neighbours and surrounding houses. A benefit I never considered.
Maybe they grow things in their lofts.
I have installed 5kw roof panels with 10kw battery, had it for 2 years now.
It overproduces electricity for 10 months of the year.
I cook all electric, have a heat pump dryer and
Elec washing machine.
For seven months of the year, I heat water by immersion - still have a hot water tank.
So I use very little gas in all but five months.
I get feed in tariff, but only small, but I do get back £250 , at least half of which is power I send out.
And that subsidises my gas bill. Total return from the system? At a guess £800 a year on 12 k capital.
(Also total immunity from a nutter Like corbyn getting into office, starting his inevitable energy strikes. I remember both winter of discontent and the miners strikes)
Sure the battery will wear out in 10 years, but I will wager the replacement will cost far less in real terms then.
So in a world in which Gordon browns idiot monetary policy copied from the US has killed savings returns, I am getting a reliable 5 percent. I am also insulated from energy price spikes.
I’m also buying heat pump air con for heating and cooling , to reduce my dependence on gas,( works a treat at my house in Portugal) and eventually a lec vehicle will use my excess energy for summer trips.
It isn’t all about investment. It’s also helping the planet a bit.
But I didn’t do it, till it was sensible without massive subsidy.
Last edited by Oracle; 18-06-2020 at 03:46 PM.
We will see - the opinions expressed here will change nothing, despite our wishes.
The expression "too cheap to meter" is as old as I am, though it is not clear if it originally referred to fission or fusion. Research into fusion is even older than me.
It is true. It is old, but the means to do it didn’t exist.
Let me give an analogy,
I met professor gabor, a professor at IC and Nobel laureate.
He invented holography as a mind game 50 years before the laser using pin holes in gold foil to do basic experiments with coherent light. Then came the laser and holography went from impossible to possible.
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