On Sun, Dec 09, 2007 at 07:27:21AM -0500, Xiaofan Chen wrote: > On Dec 9, 2007 8:08 PM, Chris Smolinski wrote: > > > > Actually we spend huge amounts (tens of billions of dollars) every > > year on fusion research. And we've not gotten anywhere. My own > > opinion is that fusion energy is either a long way off, or more > > likely impossible. Why? Because it doesn't scale down well. Stars can > > do fusion on a large scale, where gravity does a lot of work for > > free. We can't do fusion on such a scale here on Earth. The losses > > from scaling down move you too far from the break-even point. > > I may agree with this. Fusion is a long way off. > > > If we took the money spent on fusion research, and had used it to > > build nuclear fission plants (which do work), we wouldn't have an > > energy crisis in the US. > > > > Do we really have an energy crisis in the US? We do. There are wide ranging ramifications environmentally, economically, and politically with the current energy mix. > I do not think so. Oil is still cheap so people still drive. Oil prices are at record highs. Oil reserves will be tapped in a realitively short amount of time. Burning oil contributes millions of kg of particulates and gases into the atmosphere. > Electricity is still cheap Again at the expense of burning coal which is also generating millions of metric tons of waste products. We're in a pick your poison and stop sticking your head in the sand situation here.Thinking otherwise is a road towards a really awful future result. BAJ -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist