If fusion energy production worked, it would be a completely safe way to produce electricity without emitting greenhouse gases; yet the land use would be very small and the energy supply would be independent of the weather. However, fusion energy is extremely complicated to achieve on Earth: to put it into perspective, it is easier to travel to Mars than to build a fusion energy power plant. The combination of these attractive properties and complicated problems has lead to a substantial research effort with the goal to demonstrate the feasibility of large-scale fusion energy production. As a plasma physicist, I work on solving one of the problems facing fusion energy known as runaway electrons: very fast electrons accelerated by large electric …show more content…
It will most likely be fully developed too late to solve the climate change problems, but as the energy demands rise with the increased standard of living in developing countries, it can still be a central piece in the sustainable energy puzzle. This implies that fusion is only relevant if one believes that technology will be a piece in a sustainable future as compared to advocating only lifestyle changes [1]. In contrast, an advocate of lifestyle changes may argue that fusion energy research is counteractive: an excessive belief in the future technology will only slow down the necessary change, and if we will radically reduce the energy consumption there is no need for additional power plants in the far future. Fusion research also diverts money away from alternative energy sources, as argued by for example members of the the European parliamentary group Greens/EFA …show more content…
Personally, I am not sure; in my choice of terms like if and would above lies an implicit statement of social constructivism. In the case of fusion, my main source of doubt is the large amount of resources that are needed before there is any possibility to leave the niche level [3]: even fusion enthusiasts would not be prepared to pay a price corresponding to several space trips (to continue the analogy with Mars travel), only to get out about half of the energy they put into it. Fusion energy belongs to the power production socio-technical system, which is now mainly in the fossil fuel regime. In order for fusion to reach the regime level (or subaltern regime) it first needs to be fully developed. There is a general belief in the fusion community that the lack of funding has been and still is the main obstacle preventing commercial fusion power production. This belief is sometimes formulated in the phrase “fusion energy will be ready when it is needed” – had there been a greater need for fusion power, the funding level would have been larger (maybe comparable to the resources in relation to the GDP that were spent on the space program before the Moon landing) and it might already be available. The global warming could offer such a window of opportunity for fusion development, but as stated previously it is getting too late since the transition away from fossil fuels must start immediately.