Even if we could be building commercial heat and or electric plants in 2011, there would be a long adoption gradient to traverse before the world’s fusion fraction begins showing up in anything other than local aberrations in the fossil-powered scheme of things. There may be an instant where the world is aware that fusion has been proven and commercialized, but that could be decades before a fusion-powered world.
The question thus becomes “how long will fossil fuels (not the wells) be economically viable?”
