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- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
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- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
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- What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
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- Why methanol cannot replace petroleum in shipping
- Why is everyone afraid of AI taking over? It makes stuff up!
- Do you want to eat, drink, or fly?
Category Archives: Fusion
Fusion: Book review of “Sun in a Bottle”
Preface. I don’t know of a book or article that better explains fusion and why fusion is so difficult and far from being commercial. Or ever commercial for that matter. Except for hydrogen bombs.
Posted in Fusion, Nuclear Books, Nuclear Waste
Tagged bomb, fission, fusion, H Bomb, hydrogen, nuclear power, radiation, Teller, tritium
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Fusion at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Source: The target chamber of LLNL’s National Ignition Facility, where 192 laser beams delivered more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy to a tiny fuel pellet to create fusion ignition. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Preface. Anyone who thought the … Continue reading
Posted in Fusion, Nuclear War
Tagged fusion, ignition, laser, LLNL, nuclear weapons, weapons lab
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Fusion: Tokamak Obstacles
Source: Sparkes M (2022) Korean nuclear fusion reactor achieves 100 million°C for 30 seconds. New Scientist. Preface. Hope springs eternally for Fusion. I’ve come to see press releases about fusion breakthroughs as mostly a way to get more startup investment … Continue reading
Updates to Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy
Updates to “Life After Fossil Fuels” Last updated 20 March 2023. Other posts related to this book here. My book is about our many dependencies on fossil fuels, quickly depicted in these very short videos: Life without Petroleum A Day … Continue reading
Why fusion power is Forever Away
Preface. When my husband Jeffery Kahn was a science writer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, we became friends with several astrophysicists who used to joke about how fusion was 30 years away and always would be. If world peak oil … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Energy, Fusion
Tagged corrosion, electricity, fusion, ITER, plasma, power
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Why no single or combination of alternative energy resources can replace fossil fuels
Preface. This 2002 paper is still true today. There simply are no renewable replacements for the fossil fuels that power our civilization. If only scientists could violate the laws of thermodynamics and physics the way capitalistic crooks cheat, like Bernie … Continue reading
Posted in Alternative Energy, Biomass, Fusion, Hydrogen, Nuclear Power Energy, Orbiting Solar, Peak Oil, Photovoltaic Solar, Wind
Tagged fusion, hydrogen, nuclear, peak everything, solar, wind
6 Comments
ITER fusion: How’s it coming along?
Preface. Fusion is the only possible energy resource that could replace fossil fuels according to Martin Hoffert, et al in the 2002 Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet, Science. I’m not so sure fusion … Continue reading
Posted in EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, Fusion
Tagged delay, EROI, fusion, ITER, nuclear
2 Comments
BBC: Fusion energy pushed back beyond 2050
Cartlidge, E. July 11, 2017. Fusion energy pushed back beyond 2050. BBC. We will have to wait until the second half of the century for fusion reactors to start generating electricity, experts have announced. A new version of a European … Continue reading