When the news leaked that the U.S. Department of Energy was planning to announce that a federal laboratory had conducted the first-ever experiment with contained nuclear fusion that produced a net energy gain, many observers rushed to extol the huge environmental benefits that applying the technology commercially would bring. However, the experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California actually used 100 times as much energy as it produced, and the day when electricity can be sent back into the grid is far off, if it ever comes. The inefficiency of the existing laser isn’t the only limitation. There are other unanswered questions about the practicality of using fusion to generate energy all over the country. While fusion might be worthy of investment and cautious optimism as a potential long-term solution to meeting the world’s ever-growing energy needs, climate experts say it is not the clean energy answer we need today.
By Ben Adler. Yahoo News. December 14, 2022.
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