h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

~*~Fusion? Yes please but it seems to be some way off as yet - and what are the disadvantages? (and disadvantages there will be).~*~

None that I know of. It runs off of Deuterium. (Fancy name for hydrogen with a neutron.) Which exists in sufficient quantities to provide for our present energy needs for millions of years, at least.

The fuel itself poses no danger of contaminating the environment; and any waste generated from a fusion reactor becomes safe after only fifty years, as opposed to nuclear waste which can remain dangerous for millenia.

According to projections, in the highly unlikely event that something *did* go wrong, any potentially dangerous radiation wouldn't make it past the reactor's perimeter fence, making an accident like, say, Chernobyl, impossible. (One too many commas in that sentence. It's visually unappealing.)

You may not be able to pour it straight into a car, but you can convert cars to electric engines, which can in turn be recharged at "gas" stations the same way cars are today. While the time it takes to charge a car makes this impractical for now, I expect that time will be vastly reduced as the technology improves.

And despite what Batman would have you believe, you literally cannot convert a fusion reactor into a bomb. For that matter you can't convert a nuclear reactor into a bomb either. Bombs do not work that way.

If fusion power is realised in the future, I think plasma conversion of society’s wastes into power and elemental resources could help bridge the time gap.

Like it or not, money still makes the world go ‘round. In today’s scheme of things, and for many years now, we have used planned obsolescence to make the world work.

In that paradigm, raw materials and energy are converted into products. With plasma conversation, that short sighted plan can be brought full circle [at least in part].

To me the real glory of that idea is that *money* continues to be made the old way as well as in new channels. The defenders of “status quo money making” need not fight. In fact, I suspect they will support the idea.

>>None [disadvantages to fusion power] that I know of. It runs off of Deuterium. (Fancy name for hydrogen with a neutron.) Which exists in sufficient quantities to provide for our present energy needs for millions of years, at least.<<: Mr. X


Present needs - yes, well... (just wait for... what? oh, let's say the the rechargeable space-drive).

Y'know, someone in the future is going to make a name for itself by pointing out that depletion of deuterium is responsible for [insert problem as yet undreamed of].

Oh, whine, whine. Don't pretend it's not insanely better than what we have.

And furthermore, it exists in even GREATER quantities in Gas Giants, like Jupiter, which is *hundreds* of times the size of Earth. And Jupiter, for that matter, is a relatively small Gas Giant compared to those we've already confirmed to exist.

If we ever do create a "rechargeable space-drive", as you postulate, they will run off of Gas Giants. And they will be fine.

*sigh*

I wish I had been born two-hundred years later.

Oh optimist, optimist. If you live long enough you'll learn.

Come on. The absolute worst that could happen is that we drain all of Earth's resources, billions of people die, and thousands of species go extinct. It's not like it's the end of the world!

Well, you've educated me. I suppose you're right...

Meself, I'd like to dig a magma mine

Two, actually. Suck the stuff up from one, with a straw, take a few deg from it then pass it down the other, with a straw, a bit like like David Blaine -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9591292/David-Blaines-electrifying-New-York-stunt.html

My father has an idea that he wishes the world would adopt while he's still alive to enjoy the glory [he's 92]: Set up wind farms in the desolate sections of the [U.S.] Great Plains. The wind will provide power for the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will be packed into canisters and shipped to places where hydrogen is used for running plants and/or cars.

the main problem with that is shipping. Do you use highways or railroads? And what happens if a hydrogen tanker derails or is hit by something. You may have an inferno that is going to ,keep burning until it runs out of hydrogen.

Unlike Oil, Hydrogen will very quickly escape a ruptured tank. It quickly dissipates into the air [causing little problems]. At some critical point before dissipating into the air, there is just enough oxygen to burn the hydrogen if ignited. Although there is a lot of potential energy in that process; if it is ignited, it also burns so fast that it is gone before much damage can be done.

But do NOT take my word on this, check it out.

I thinkmy father realizes that it's pretty much impossible for him to live long enough to see all the problems of his plan solved.