24 What about renewable energy sources? Why do we need fusion at all?
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This article is from the Fusion FAQ, by Robert F. Heeter heeter1@llnl.gov with numerous contributions by others.
24 What about renewable energy sources? Why do we need fusion at all?
(After all, renewables will be ready much sooner than fusion.)
Renewable energy sources depend on incident sunlight, which is
a diffuse, low-density source. While renewables in many cases
are great for the environment, it's not clear that they'll
be able to "pull the whole load" in the future, when the
population of the earth is expected to double and energy use
is expected to triple even *with* aggressive conservation
and population-control measures. This is especially true
for the large dense cities which are developing worldwide
as nations develop and continue to urbanize. Diffuse
energy sources require lots of land, and dense cities
don't have lots of land.
So given that a major environmental constraint will be finding
enough land to feed everyone, while still leaving room for
wildlife and the rest of nature, it seems that it would
be prudent to develop as many energy sources as possible
and to make sure that at least some of those (like
fusion) are not land-intensive.
Renewables certainly seem to be the "energy source of
tomorrow," and we should definitely develop them
- but we're likely to need fusion the *day after*
tomorrow, so we'd better develop it too.
(Acknowledgements to W.D. Kay or Northeastern Univ.
for the idea which led to this last sentence.)
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