Who else (other than me) thinks that Fusion is the way to go in the future?

Question

With oil and other resources dwindling I don't see anyone talking about or pursuing Fusion power which is not only practically free but technically clean and inexhaustible. In keeping with his character Clinton has caused the US to be caught with it's pants down by stopping Fusion funding during his term.

Answer 1

I agree that fusion is the way to go.

I would like to clarify several points that have been brought up.
First of all, a lot of people do take Fusion seriously. The US government spends a lot of money each year on fusion projects like NIF,TFTR,DIIID, ITER, etc.
Secondly, we know how to confine fusion plasmas at a large scale, (see ITER).
Third cold fusion as you have heard of it is a joke. Most claims of cold fusion are not physically viable.
Finally there are industries who are interest in Fusion (General Atomics for one) but most power companies are not. The reason why is that they make huge profits off of oil and they don't see any profit in fusion yet.

Answer 2

Fusion fuel is just too cheap, and the potential power of a fusion generator to great to think it won't eventually take over as the primary energy source for the the very long term. It would allow us to spread out across the solar system. It's worth funding in the context of scientific research for that reason alone. It's a tough nut to crack, though, technologically speaking, and I have my doubts about any of the current approaches being pursued. I think we're just going to have to muddle through the 21st century without it being a major player.

Answer 3

I strongly agree with you. Controlled fusion is proving to be much more difficult to achieve than we used to think. But anything physically possible will one day be made to work. And if you read Ray Kurzweil's books you'll see that scientific progress in the next few years will be very, very rapid. Fusion will solve most of our problems. A high temperature fusion torch will break down hazardous waste into useful raw materials. High enough temperatures will even convert radioactive waste into stable elements. Fusion can be used to break down CO2 into carbon and oxygen and reverse global warming. And of course fusion will solve all our energy and raw materials problems.

Answer 4

I don't think that they have found a way to produce a stable and sustainable fusion energy reaction on any large scale as of yet. Nuclear fission, yes, fusion....I don't think so.

Answer 5

I agree. I think that in the long term, we need to have fusion.

Answer 6

Not me. It is not practical! We have spent enough on it. Let Europe try it. (If it were practical do you think that big companies would be doing it!).

Answer 7

Hot fusion, thanks but no thanks. Cold fusion is one of the answers, when they manage to deal with it....