Imagine the ideal energy source. What concept is the most ideal, the least compromised?
The energy of the future must be safe (no radioactive waste or weapons potential), clean (no GHG or other forms of pollution), cheap, easily distributed, scalable, and sustainable (essentially unlimited).
As a concept, Focus Fusion fits that criteria better than any other concept out there. Once you get what aneutronic means, you'll understand why. The DPF is also a small scale approach to leveraging aneutronic fuel. If successful, Focus Fusion spells the end of nuclear waste and nuclear weapons as well as the end of poverty and global warming.
Thanks to Mark Nelson for completing this fabulous video!
Technical help: I’ve uploaded it to Youtube and embedded it here. The original video (.mov) is available here. Note some difference in the sound synch between the two vids. Is there any way I can correct that on Youtube? Also, how do I change the still image? I want to have the starburst as the placeholder. Let me know. And now, Enjoy:
Not all fusion is created equal, but few are aware of this. Here we compare conventional fusion (“the stagecoach”) with aneutronic fusion (“the spaceship”).
There’s a pun in here about “poisson” and “fission”, except we’re not promoting fission. We’re for focus fusion. So, apparently, is Jesus.
Today, the vast majority of energy is produced the same way it was at the end of the 19th century, by burning fossil fuels. We owe a great deal to these fossil fuels as they have have launched humanity into an unprecedented era of prosperity. However, this power source was not enough to propel everyone into prosperity. We’re literally “running out of gas” while billions of people still remain trapped in poverty.
The Energy Crisis*
*and the fusion footnote
According to many sources, the world today is caught in an escalating energy crisis. The crisis has profound economic, political and environmental impacts, which are steadily getting worse. But there is something missing from the old “Energy Crisis” equation, and that is Focus Fusion.
Energy production has three main elements: fuel, reactor and generator (why these three?). Conventional fusion and focus fusion differ significantly in their approach to these three elements:
Fusion in the movies typically involves disaster. The disaster comes either from attempts by evil government/corporate forces to suppress an innovation (e.g., “Chain Reaction”, “The Saint”), or the fusion itself is dangerous and the scientist who makes it is mad, as in Spider-Man II.
An additional benefit of focus fusion is that it can be used for distributed generation. Distributed generation is the idea that electricity should be generated close to where it is used. This has many benefits including reducing the risk of widespread blackouts. The majority of a community’s power could be generated in the community instead of being transmitted hundreds of miles from distant power plants. This would prevent distant equipment failures from affecting the community’s power supply.
