- #1
Luke Velie
- 7
- 0
Hi guys,
I posted about a closely related subject earlier, but with more and more research, all I have found regarding fusion energy is pure pessimism, and that it will always be a theoretical hope that just won’t happen. For example, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists basically says that international projects such as ITER are just using a ton of fossil fuel energy, and their results aren’t even sufficient (not to mention they’re still like 15-20 years away). With that in mind, my fusion energy study ambitions have exponentially fallen, and I’m wondering if it might just be more practical if I go into some sort of renewable energy engineering such as solar engineering, geothermal engineering, wind turbine engineering, or tidal wave (hydroelectric) engineering? Fusion power very much interests me, but if it’s just a theoretical concept not likely to happen within the next 20-40 years, then what’s the point, is basically the conclusion I’ve reached. However, if the Bulletin and other sources are being overly critical and pessimistic, then which sort of fusion research would be more promising to go into - magnetic confinement, or inertial confinement? From what I understand, magnetic confinement uses magnetohydrodynamics and tokamaks, and inertial confinement is laser-based. I can’t find very many clear or credible answers online of which is more promising.
Thanks!
I posted about a closely related subject earlier, but with more and more research, all I have found regarding fusion energy is pure pessimism, and that it will always be a theoretical hope that just won’t happen. For example, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists basically says that international projects such as ITER are just using a ton of fossil fuel energy, and their results aren’t even sufficient (not to mention they’re still like 15-20 years away). With that in mind, my fusion energy study ambitions have exponentially fallen, and I’m wondering if it might just be more practical if I go into some sort of renewable energy engineering such as solar engineering, geothermal engineering, wind turbine engineering, or tidal wave (hydroelectric) engineering? Fusion power very much interests me, but if it’s just a theoretical concept not likely to happen within the next 20-40 years, then what’s the point, is basically the conclusion I’ve reached. However, if the Bulletin and other sources are being overly critical and pessimistic, then which sort of fusion research would be more promising to go into - magnetic confinement, or inertial confinement? From what I understand, magnetic confinement uses magnetohydrodynamics and tokamaks, and inertial confinement is laser-based. I can’t find very many clear or credible answers online of which is more promising.
Thanks!