Lockheed says makes breakthrough on Fusion Energy project

a reply to: Bedlam
p-B11?
unfamiliar with

originally posted by: punkinworks10
a reply to: Bedlam
p-B11?
unfamiliar with

Proton Boron Fusion.

Google away.

a reply to: Psynic
Thanks for the direction, I was familiar with D-Li reaction, but hadn't really read up on the other reactions in the family.

So if you had your own fusion generator how would that change anything?

originally posted by: FormOfTheLord
So if you had your own fusion generator how would that change anything?

Well, no power bills for one.

And you could keep the hybrid topped up for free. Probably everyone would go full electric if it cost nothing but taxes to drive a car.

No widespread power outages. No cross country power lines. Any petro needs could be filled economically with carbon neutral F-T processes.

Cheap MHD-laser recycling of trash into raw materials. Cheap water from seawater without draining inland aquifers.

There's just lots of what-ifs that draw too much power to be useful. Unless you had this.

Amazing! A real Day of Days for mankind...if we are mutually wise enough to avoid killing each-other to extinction before we can safely create sustainable, scalable - literally free - power. Id like to see more specific tech.

I'm non-religious, but I can say a silent prayer to God (all Gods, any God) in Times like these, with these odds and mindless egomania on crack.

But, come what may, I'm comforted by what Bruce Lee once said:

"Don't pray for an easy life, pray for the Strength to endure a hard one."

Peace

Someone will put fire crackers in it just to see it light up like the 4th of July!

It would be nice to see these for every home like a global mmobile power grid that isnt hooked into a power plant.

I think nanosizing this would be an awesome idea, so you could have your own micro generators smaller than the eye could ever see.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: FormOfTheLord
So if you had your own fusion generator how would that change anything?

Well, no power bills for one.

And you could keep the hybrid topped up for free. Probably everyone would go full electric if it cost nothing but taxes to drive a car.

No widespread power outages. No cross country power lines. Any petro needs could be filled economically with carbon neutral F-T processes.

Cheap MHD-laser recycling of trash into raw materials. Cheap water from seawater without draining inland aquifers.

There's just lots of what-ifs that draw too much power to be useful. Unless you had this.

All of the above are things the "rights holders" might benefit from.

As a consumer/none inventor of a fusion reactor am I being a bit pessimistic to suggest that not much would change for the average end user of electricity?

I would be absolutely amazed if the people who could secure the rights to operate fusion reactors didn't "fix" the price of energy produced based on historical values.

A likely fusion energy provider scenario would be to fix the prices ( a slight reduction on current costs based on a lessened ecological footprint) then lobby politicians to award them a congratulatory "clean energy" tax reduction package.

People typically dont have generators in their home now so unless capitalism suddenly changed its MO: there would be no business reasons to change things.

originally posted by: Jukiodone
All of the above are things the "rights holders" might benefit from.

People typically dont have generators in their home now so unless capitalism suddenly changed its MO: there would be no business reasons to change things.

Not sure you'd need 100MW generator in your home, but your city could purchase one. Or if they get them a lot smaller, your block. If they get the thing where it'll fit in a C130 or whatever, you could certainly run a neighborhood from one, and the price of the power from it would be whatever the co-op set.

a reply to: Bedlam

I'm not suggesting the size or output is an issue.

I'm suggesting that there would be no commercial impetus to provide ANY end users with reactors when electricity is already in a consumer model, there is a recognised price, the distribution mechanism is in place and it has already had the significant Cap-Ex covered by users of conventional power.

Of course I agree with your model and method in terms of it being the "right thing to do"- but good intentions never make it out of Board meetings alive- especially when there are shareholders that want new Yachts and Swimming Pools.

a reply to: Jukiodone

If they pull this off with p-B11, there will be yachts and pools for everyone in LM. I just hope they don't get out of aerospace, or it'll be dark times for me.

I don't see this technology taking off anytime soon. The entire world is built around petrochemicals, and it would cost to much and be akin to stopping the Earth from turning to move to fusion/electric instead of oil.

Besides, I thought I heard rumors that behind closed doors the leaders of the world have pretty much agreed in secret to not allow fusion power to be released?

Anyway, there is to much invested in infrastructure for oil right now. Alternatives could be 1/4 the price of oil and we wouldn't see a mass exodus away from it -- there's just to much invested an entrenched. Call me cynical...

Look around you right now, 90% of everything you see is possible because of oil. Dyes, plastics, ect ...

I suppose it could happen gradually, but they're going to have to replace all gas stations world wide with electric charging stations, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

No, we won't see working fusion generators on Earth anytime in the foreseeable future.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

There is only a small portion of the population with a true vested interest in oil and the petro-products, however an illusion has been created that makes many feel a major economic depression would be the result if the Oil industry was no longer needed.

Maybe the time is now. Petroleum fueled cars can be phased out. Lockeed is one of the few companies that is big enough to make it happen.

If we're not careful we'll domesticate ourselves into extinction.

It'd make life too easy. People would start choking on themselves. Selfishness will cause a black hole to form. We'll become apathetic. So my feeling is this technology should be avoided at all costs.

It's the challenges we have in day to day life which enable us to survive. Without them there's no reason to adapt, no reason to fight and learn.

One problem I see with this being made commercially, are the energy companies who overnight would be made totally redundant. Do you think our glorious leaders will allow that?

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
I don't see this technology taking off anytime soon. The entire world is built around petrochemicals, and it would cost to much and be akin to stopping the Earth from turning to move to fusion/electric instead of oil.

O'course, you can make oil out of CO2 and water if you've got the electricity. And it's carbon negative!

eta: AND, you can run the landfill contents through some combination of thermal depolymerizers, waste metal reclamation and laser based MHD element separators and reclaim all the trash we've dumped in times gone by. If you have nearly free electricity. You can also tdp sewage into petro chemicals with power. Lots of possibilities.

originally posted by: Gallus
One problem I see with this being made commercially, are the energy companies who overnight would be made totally redundant. Do you think our glorious leaders will allow that?

Well, SOMEONE's got to put the transformers on the poles, set these things up and maintain them. Who better than the energy companies?

Maybe we could make them alot smaller so we could all have jetpacks FTW!