Anyone follow fusion research? Seems like we are actually going to see working products in our lifetimes.
Fusion seems to be the great white hope when it comes to energy. It seems like every few years there's a scientist that proclaims we're close to fusion. I guess I'll believe it when I see it. If it happens it would essentially solve all the worlds energy issues and then some.
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Fusion seems to be the great white hope when it comes to energy. It seems like every few years there's a scientist that proclaims we're close to fusion. I guess I'll believe it when I see it. If it happens it would essentially solve all the worlds energy issues and then some.
Fusion....always 20 years away.
It might end up being very important but right now even though billions are being poured into the ITER Tokamak I believe only one group from Lawrence Livermore have shown a net gain in energy for a fusion reaction and it isn't a Tokamal design. Unfortunately when you take into account the energy required to actually do the reaction the overall energy gain was extremely negligible. They used 192 of the strongest lasers directed at a very small capsule containing the fuel.
The ITER Tokamak....First of all the money being poured into the Tokamak is insane and it is likely the worst fusion technology to push forward but it is the one the governments are pushing forward. Second of all they predict first plasma shots by 2020. That is a pipe dream to begin with and it is a long ways away from the actual running of the plasma for net energy gain. I say pipedream because much has been said, written and reported on the completely unrealistic schedule they still promote and lack of, well, any sort of coherent plan on how to do things. 2027 is the current date for Deuterium-Tritium operation to begin...having talked to some guys involved with the project in a, shall we say off the record sort of way, you can safely push that out at least 10 years. And perhaps forever as countries actively talk about pulling the funding.
You are more likely to see some very small modular nuclear fission reactors play an important role for communities moving forward than you are fusion....and even the fission ones are a stretch in todays political climate. We're talking 1 MW to 200 MW reactors.
I was listening to an old episode of Star Talk from Feb/2015 and Robert F Kennedy Jr, when asked "what is the one biggest thing any one person can do?" said basically, do NOT elect a climate change denier in the next election.
I was listening to an old episode of Star Talk from Feb/2015 and Robert F Kennedy Jr, when asked "what is the one biggest thing any one person can do?" said basically, do NOT elect a climate change denier in the next election.
Too bad that message comes from an anti-vaxxer - hard to give credibility to a science-denier asking people not to elect a different group of science-deniers.
^ I agree. I'm not a fan of Kennedy's anti-vax stance for sure. It's such an odd stance too. This guy is all about listening to the science and yet he takes that position. Weird.
^ I agree. I'm not a fan of Kennedy's anti-vax stance for sure. It's such an odd stance too. This guy is all about listening to the science and yet he takes that position. Weird.
It's not that uncommon with those who take science to support one position only to ignore it for something else, like GMOs, vaccines, etc.
Look at how many environmental groups want to stop the building of new nuclear power plants and shutdown existing ones, which invariably leads to increased CO2 emissions and thus promoting the climate change that they want to stop.
It's not that uncommon with those who take science to support one position only to ignore it for something else, like GMOs, vaccines, etc.
Look at how many environmental groups want to stop the building of new nuclear power plants and shutdown existing ones, which invariably leads to increased CO2 emissions and thus promoting the climate change that they want to stop.
Well the nuclear fuel debate is much more nuanced than the anti-vax and other conspiracies. I'll preface by saying I do think nuclear power is an important cog in the energy machine and could be instrumental in a greener future, especially in the early years. However, there is no denying that when it goes wrong, it goes disasterously wrong. It deadens the area around it and pollutes the whole world. Not only should certain goverments not have them cause they can't maintain them safely (Chernobyl) but some areas just shouldn't have them due to geographical concerns (Japan). Not to mention that we still haven't figured out what to do with the waste, 70 years later.
So while I think more investment and especially more research should go into nuclear power and making plants even safer, you can't really blame someone from going all NIMBY on a nuclear powet plant.
I will agree however, it's an issue armchair environmentalists argue against without really knowing the facts.
Haha, "considerable intelligence" good jab Mr. Brown
Ben Carson is a full fledged nut bar, he believes gays are the same as pedophiles and their sex life is like bestiality. He doesn't believe in evolution because our brain is too complex.
I didn't want to start a new thread, but was perusing CNN when I came across this article about food waste and it's contribution to CO2 generation. Since, throwing food away is a pet peeve of mine, I found the article eye opening with staggering numbers:
I recently blocked an old friend who's been one of the most over the top NDP and Liberals will destroy the world people and climate deniers. He no word of a lie linked to that moron Monckton debunking this and when a friend called him on the source he linked a blog article on financial post written by a fellow of the Hertiage Institute and said "yeah Thor always calls me on my sources, he only agrees with ones that agree with his climate alarmism." Irony meter broken it seems with him.
Yes folks, I posted something NASA made, he posts an infamous climate denier's webpage and a paid Heritage Institute mouth piece (Heritage is a oil industry funded think tank).
I hate blocking people, I think this is the 1st person I've blocked since I joined FB, but what I cannot abide by is being rude, insulting to friends when you disagree with them.
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
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Originally Posted by MattyC
Liberal bias evident there. I don't even see a graph on cow farts.
I know you were joking a bit, but part of the problem with that graph is it just shows two things increasing at the same levels. In fact it shows CO2 levels going up faster than temperature change.
I'm not denying the influence of CO2 on climate change. I'm just saying that is far from being a smoking gun that will influence any denier. Is the global temperature rising at the same rate as the increase in chattel population? What about solar output? What about global electricity production?
Climate change is complex, and the best evidence I have seen linking it to CO2 was a video where deGrasse Tyson spent 5 minutes explaining it.
And here we are again. February 2016 was the hottest February on the planet on record, a staggering 1.35° C hotter than the average. The previous hottest Februaries were 1998 (0.88° above average) and 2015 (0.87°). That’s a huge jump.
Those numbers are from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, one of the premier centers for keeping tabs on our ever-warming globe. They are from temperature measurements over land and ocean going back to 1880. They represent temperature anomalies, that is, deviations from an average. In this case, the average is taken over the range of 1951–1980. That makes comparing temperatures easier, and shows that February 2016 was the hottest recorded February for 136 years.
These numbers average over the whole planet. But when you map the temperatures by region, you see the Arctic has been suffering an incredible heat wave, with monthly average temperatures as much as 16° C above average. Sixteen!
There’s a huge jump in monthly temperatures starting last year, stomping previous records. October 2015 was the hottest October on record. November 2015 was the hottest November on record. December, January, and now February, all records, and by a wide margin.
Remember when the talk of global warming was flooded with skeptics just a few years ago, seems like at least on CP we've started to see a lot more people changing their minds.
It might end up being very important but right now even though billions are being poured into the ITER Tokamak I believe only one group from Lawrence Livermore have shown a net gain in energy for a fusion reaction and it isn't a Tokamal design. Unfortunately when you take into account the energy required to actually do the reaction the overall energy gain was extremely negligible. They used 192 of the strongest lasers directed at a very small capsule containing the fuel.
The ITER Tokamak....First of all the money being poured into the Tokamak is insane and it is likely the worst fusion technology to push forward but it is the one the governments are pushing forward. Second of all they predict first plasma shots by 2020. That is a pipe dream to begin with and it is a long ways away from the actual running of the plasma for net energy gain. I say pipedream because much has been said, written and reported on the completely unrealistic schedule they still promote and lack of, well, any sort of coherent plan on how to do things. 2027 is the current date for Deuterium-Tritium operation to begin...having talked to some guys involved with the project in a, shall we say off the record sort of way, you can safely push that out at least 10 years. And perhaps forever as countries actively talk about pulling the funding.
You are more likely to see some very small modular nuclear fission reactors play an important role for communities moving forward than you are fusion....and even the fission ones are a stretch in todays political climate. We're talking 1 MW to 200 MW reactors.
Remember when the talk of global warming was flooded with skeptics just a few years ago, seems like at least on CP we've started to see a lot more people changing their minds.
I think the non-believers just aren't posting their thoughts as much.
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