Cite?
Performing fusion in a laboratory has been done plenty of times; it’s easy. You can build a cheap tabletop device that’ll do it. What’s hard is doing it such that you get more useable energy out of the reaction than what you put in to make it happen.
Do you really need a cite that solar panels degrade and/or can be damaged by bad weather?
The NIF will fuse a pellet of fuel with a zillion watt laser. There is no method to gather the energy released. From that I gather that it is more to study high power fusion reactions to validate theories about how H bombs work. It makes no sense from power generating point of view.
USA power consumption 1x10^20 joules in 2007
http://www.eia.doe.gov/analysis/
Presentation marked “Annuall Energy Outlook Reference Cases”
12 watts/sqfoot
1yr = 365 days = 8,760 hours = 525,600 min = 31,536,000 sec
31,536,000 sec x 12 watts = 378,432,000 joules per sqfoot
1x10^20 joules / 378,432,000 joules per sqfoot =2.64x10^11 sqfeet =9478 sqmiles
This is approximately the size of the entire state of Rhode Island.
From Wikipediahttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_telluride_photovoltaics
I know how some don’t like to trust Wikipedia, but the numbers are calculated for you to see yourself in the references.
2.64x10^11 sqfeet = 2.45x10^10 sqmeters x 9.3 g/sqmeters =2.28x10^11 g Te = 228,000 metric tons of Tellurium
World production of Tellurium in 2007: <400 tons
Of course there are configurations other than Cadmium Telluride. I’ve put enough effort into this that I don’t feel it’s up to me to cover every possible configuration. If Superman says he can fly, it’s not up to me to prove he can’t.
I didn’t mean to imply that it was some sort of fusion reactor or power plant. But I’m curious what project it was that was “killed”.
I don’t know. It was probably a change in administration. The Dems try to get the government to research some tech that the Reps want to keep entirely private. Back in the 70s the government spent a lot on high mileage super safe cars and the first thing Reagan did was have the prototypes and all plans destroyed.
Sounds like Snopes fodder to me.
How much Silicon is there in the world?
Who gives a shit. Without enough of any one component, the whole thing falls apart.
Go to the nearest beach. See all that sand? Silicon Dioxide, lots and lots of Silicon Dioxide.
Great. I bet that stuff causes cancer doesnt it?
That’s the infamous eccentric-but-always-effective Dr. Brown, and the output is surprisingly huge. In fact, it’s measured in JIGAwatts!
“Jiga” is a variant pronunciation of “Giga”. It’s still spelled the same and means the same thing.
Both the Jigawatt and the infamous Dr. Brown were comments whose tongue-to-cheek ratio were of an order of magnitude approaching a fusion-powered whoosh.
A jiga-whoosh?
Btw, I always prefer to think of Doc Brown’s Flux Capacitor capable of soooo much power that he had to invent a new prefix “Jigga-”. It’s way beyond Giga- (take a left once you pass Peta-, and straight on til morning…).
At the moment, no. But no doubt it will begin to do so as soon as it’s useful for something.
It was a magnetic mirror machine built in the 1980s. (NIF is something very different of course.)
Fusion research funding tends to be inversely proportional to oil prices. A lot of fusion concepts got kicked off during the 1970s oil shock, and a lot died in the 1980s as oil prices fell. What gets cut and what gets saved is somewhat political, though I’m sure the tok people really believe theirs is the best concept.
And 20 years later, I visited Princeton University’s Plasma Physics Lab and saw the Tokamak reactor. I think now it’s being used as a giant planter on campus in front of the main library.
It’s already here and been done. The secret is apparently a load of Bologna technology.
Isn’t Dr. Brown more known for his cream sodas?