Topic: Videodrome (Read 207688 times)

Mongrel · « **Reply #2360 on:** February 21, 2012, 09:31:24 PM »

It's not fission that's the issue. Magnetic containment technology is simply not advanced enough. We require an order of magnitude in efficiency gains before fusion plants can reliably and effectively generate more power than they consume. Scientists are working incrementally towards that goal, but even best estimates put us at least 50 years off that goal, barring some unknown and unanticipated breakthrough.

Brentai · « **Reply #2361 on:** February 21, 2012, 09:33:50 PM »

Meanwhile I'll be using those four windmills to power my flashlight.

Classic · « **Reply #2362 on:** February 21, 2012, 10:00:59 PM »

Since that is basically what Roast Beef did for a year when he wasn't getting completely drunk, and all he talked about when got completely drunk, I was vaguely aware of that part of the problem. I am embarrassed now.

That said,

Quote from: Mongrel on February 21, 2012, 09:31:24 PM

best estimates put us at least 50 years off that goal, barring some unknown and unanticipated breakthrough.

We've been 50 years away for almost as long, in equal parts because of the bullshit that goes on politically regarding nuclear power (even within the professional community, sadly) and how there's not too much economic incentive for anyone but a government to pay for any experimental work or even serious research.

Now that I reflect on it, he was pretty boring that year.

Mongrel · « **Reply #2363 on:** February 21, 2012, 11:00:50 PM »

It's true. Fifty years ago they were saying we were thirty years away from fusion power.

That sort of makes me wonder... Fusion power is basically "perfect" in that it would theoretically produce huge amounts of energy with little cost either in terms of fuel or danger (no radioactive byproducts and even catastrophic failures would carry no danger of mass radioactivity or fallout). And yet we can never quite get over the technical hump to make it work. Just like Hydrogen fuel-cell cars.

Have we ever in fact perfected an energy technology with substantial benefits and no drawbacks?

I guess there's Hydroelectric? It kind of has a drawback though: You can't scale it at will and have to accept what nature offers, so I don't really see it as something fully under our control.

Cthulhu-chan · « **Reply #2364 on:** February 22, 2012, 12:08:20 AM »

It's also something of an ecological nightmare for the immediate area, and potentially an issue for anybody that was downstream.

Anyway, the quest for easy energy is just one more bit of evidence that the universe's most fundamental element is misery.