• interolivary@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    But: how much solar-, wind- and battery-farms could we built with the same money and in much less time?

    Why would it have to be either / or? Fusion research funding is frankly ridiculously low as it is, so it’s not like it’s eating into funds that could be used for building renewable power stations.

      • interolivary@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah it’s mind-boggling how underfunded fusion research is, considering the potential payoff. Fission is great in many ways, but it requires finding and handling spicy rocks & their by-products that will make your DNA fall into pieces if you’re not careful, which is not so great.

        Fusion would be clean and damn near free energy (in the sense that the fuel isn’t rare or expensive), and unlike renewables you’d get output practically 24/7 and at massively better W/m2 (eg wind generator parks take up a lot of space). We need both renewables and a reliable and non-polluting steady state generation method, and regular nukes have a lot of downsides (even the modular designs.)