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2 Global Warming Carbon Taxes and Nuclear Fusion As The Answer

Author: Dr Mark Denekamp This eBook is the intellectual property of the author © All rights reserved 2011

3 ______Contents

Preface 5

Introduction 9

1. Global Warming And Your Future 11

2. Government and Other Responses 17

3. Power Generation Ideas 23

4. Fusion Power 38

Postscript 63

4 ______Preface

I remember some years ago when I began to become curious about alternative energy methods especially about one method that I had been following when I was a teenager.

It had aroused my intense interest and curiosity then. At that stage I was even looking at following this lead as a lifetime career.

But some other opportunities presented themselves and I followed a totally different career path.

______> Living On Purpose

Years later I was reviewing my life to see if I was really living on purpose and doing those things that I was passionate about. And this same energy producing method came to my mind.

What had happened over the many years since I had last looked at it? What were the chances of doing something still in relation to it?

I became intensely curious particularly when I felt there was some purpose in my being stimulated again about it. Intensely curious I felt I should start looking again.

Maybe you have had that same intense curiosity yourself in the past, maybe not on the same topic but on something else that raised an intense curiosity in you.

Could this be a way I could fulfill my desire to live on pupose?

5 ______> Surveying The Field

To look further I had to find out what was currently happening. And I needed to raise my understanding of the whole field.

I had been immersed in medicine for years, some involved in technology that sort of linked with this alternative energy production.

In fact the technology stimulated some ideas of my own. But I needed to know if these ideas were viable. Or whether they had already been tried and failed to produce results.

I became voraciously hungry for more data, background and information about it.

I searched on-line finding a ton of information about current directions in research.

______> Looking At Jobs

I looked at job openings to see if there might be some way I could get involved in this field from my current level of training and understanding.

______> Research

Through Amazon.com I purchased a large number of books, including standard university texts and other specialised ones to get me up to speed with past history and current thinking.

I was voraciously hungry for some more information, no doubt like you have been about other things in your past.

My research showed me a number of avenues that had been taken.

And also some that had been decided on as dead ends due to the difficulty of them.

6 ______> Yet To Be Achieved

I became totally excited realising there had yet to be a major breakthrough. There was still plenty of opportunity for me be a part of this field.

Even after many years no one had cracked the way to make it work.

There was a great deal of money being expended in one arm. But results from this that would be effective for the world were said to be half a century away.

And we did not look like we had time for that from either a supply of fuels and materials point of view or from the way the world environment was.

______> Possibilities

And I became even more totally excited when I learned of some ventures that were taking place that promised a much simpler and quicker result than the most well-known ones.

And there would be events in your life that will have totally excited you like this too.

Reaching further into the details of what was happening I realised there might be a chance for me to be involved in this field in some form.

I had been training and practising at my field for many years. There seemed every reason to stick with that to the end of my earning life.

On the other hand with the initiatives that were around there was a chance that becoming involved in some way could make it possible for a tangible result that could benefit the world and bring a deep sense of satisfaction to me.

7 ______> Decisions

What would be the best decision for me to make?

I needed to become absolutely decisive about what I wanted to do with my life over the next few years. Was I willing the make the jump into a field I had not pursued all that time?

One of my old university classmates whom I had told about these ideas asked me if I was going to go back to university, retrain in this field and start over at this time in my life. The idea did not look all that practical and appealing. There were years of study and the thought of how I would fund it especially if I pursued it full time.

I could have just shuffled along and hoped things would happen, or that I might stumble across an answer.

What should I do?

______> A Result

By becoming totally decisive I would be able to really chose a best course. And I am sure there have been times in your life when you have had to be totally decisive too. And things have radically changed.

This book is a result of that process. And gives me and you a chance to participate in it.

8 ______Introduction

______> Conferences

With the Copenhagen 2009 summit then the Cancun one in 2010 having taken place with many distractions and varied responses now seems a great time to consider global warming, greenhouse gases and ways we might see around the problem.

It was said that there were more world leaders at Copenhagen than any in the past. Previously more functionaries have attended.

It was suggested hopefully that this round would achieve something significant due to the quality of the attendees. Certainly one would wish so.

______> Managing Knowledge

But even the leaders are limited in what they can discuss by the knowledge they have up until now. And none of them being infinite or able to absorb all the endlessly escalating amount of information out there is likely to be able to make a really well-informed decision encompassing all possibilities.

As far as global warming itself is concerned, there is copious hot air being generated daily in discussion both supporting and denying it. The major public distraction of Climategate had a major effect on the ability to make decisions at Copenhagen.

9 ______> Public Opinion

And since then, even with many of the issues raised having been answered there is a strong public feeling of increased scepticism. And politically, especially in the USA, it is more advantageous to be in the sceptics' camp.

Meanwhile the global warming camp is increasingly convinced of its position. And increasingly concerned about inadequate responses worldwide.

There are initiatives that are being taken to deal with the escalating problem. Are these enough in themselves? And do those with political clout see all the possibilities that could be taken to really do something?

______> The Advantage Of A Crisis

We have many instances in the history of the world where a real crisis has inspired people and countries to rise to new heights and ideas.

In fact one could say that a crisis, and this would be one of them, arises because the way we have been working and thinking in the past was not the best way, or it has outlived its usefulness and applicability – we need to evolve to the next thinking and action level.

We can say let's try just a minor adjustment, or a slightly more major one, if this is palatable.

Or we could say, let's look for something light years away from current thinking that will not just heal the problem but totally transform it so it is no longer even an issue.

______> The Aim Of This Book

And that is the hope of this brief booklet. That it might trigger a way for us to see something bigger and newer to achieve a leap in civilisation, culture, or technology, that will transform where we are headed and lead on to even greater possibilities.

In other words not just give a result for energy production but for a wide variety of other directions for our future.

10 ______Chapter One Global Warming And Your Future

Practically everyday now the papers and television news have items related to global warming, carbon taxes and the Kyoto protocol.

We have had Al Gore's tour and the subsequent film.

There have been repeated meetings, seminars, agreements, commitments and broken commitments. And there are the alternative viewpoints given with varying degrees of reception.

______> Maldives

The Maldives government held a meeting underwater to dramatise their concern about the future especially as it could affect their country.

______> Copenhagen

Copenhagen was felt to be important enough for major leaders to be involved. There were some agreements, most felt to be not significant enough.

The unfortunate timing of the Climategate controversy had an apparent major impact on the uptake of resolutions from the conference. Politically there had been a shift in public consciousness.

And there were protests by those with strong beliefs that something definitive needed to be done if the planet and the people on it were to have a viable future.

11 ______> Cancun

The later Cancun summit seemed to achieve more. But participants have been affected by the shifts that have occurred in public opinion since that time.

______> Weather Changes

There have been changes in weather patterns about the world with hurricanes, typhoons, tornados, floods, droughts and mass bushfires – some as in Melbourne, Australia with devastating loss of life.

Temperatures seem to be fluctuating madly with extreme and record highs, but also some marked lows with blizzards and ice-storms.

We are told of retreating glaciers with huge reductions in the snow-and-ice- feeding origins of these, shrinkage of the Arctic ice-cap and loss of huge chunks of ice shelf in the Antarctic.

Over more recent years we had become used to the variations caused by ocean current changes that cause el Nino and la Niña patterns with changes in wind directions, precipitation and droughts. Mudslides and crop failures arising from this have resulted in huge local loss of life and population drifts and conflicts.

______> Ozone Hole

Over a similar time we have been told of the ozone hole that appeared in our atmosphere with a resulting increase in ultraviolet radiation levels on the earth's surface with greatly decreased burn times for affected countries and the concern this raises with increased skin cancer rates and cataracts.

The hole we were informed was due to certain chemicals man was using in his aerosols and refrigeration and air-conditioning units.

12 ______> Other Pollution Effects

There have been other concerns with acid rain affecting forests and buildings and radioactive fallout from an incident like Chernobyl.

Not to mention other chemical pollution problems high-lighted in incidents like Bhopal, the incident shown in the film of Erin Brocovich and others less publicised.

______> Carbon Dioxide

More lately we have been told of the effect of another waste product we produce – carbon dioxide or CO 2.

This by-product of burning fossil and other fuels has produced a cloud of carbon dioxide that shrouds the earth and traps in its atmosphere the heat of the sun's rays rather than being radiated away more freely than in times past.

______> Other Greenhouse Gases

It is not just carbon dioxide – water vapour, ozone itself, nitrous oxide, methane (eight times stronger at absorbing infra-red radiation than carbon dioxide) and hydrofluorocarbons along with quite a number of lower volume chemicals also tend to contribute to the effect.

As a result the earth is becoming like a greenhouse by trapping this infra-red heat energy so that we are experiencing a gradual rise in the baseline temperature above the normal day-to-day and seasonal variations.

______Deforestation

By decreasing the global forest cover we are lessening the beneficial effects of photosynthesis in plants in utilising and therefore reducing carbon dioxide.

13 ______> Greenhouse Benefits

Over the millennia the effects of these gases have been to contribute to the evenness of the earth's temperature, raising what would otherwise be its quite cold base temperature and lessening wild fluctuations from day to night and in the greater latitudes.

Life on earth has flourished as a result.

And we benefit in a reduction in the amount of clothing and house insulation we would otherwise have to use.

______> Greenhouse Gas Contributions

Water vapour is actually supposed to contribute proportionately the largest part to warming effects.

After this, though, carbon dioxide has the next largest proportional effect. And this is the gas focused on mostly in news items and as a headline for reporting on government and other other initiatives.

In New Zealand, with its large dairy and sheep production, methane became a news-worthy item. The government of the day was proposing a levy on farmers for the contribution of their animals to global warming. There was a strong farmers' reaction to the proposal and the “fart tax” was shelved.

There are varying written opinions on the relative effect of these gases compared to the baseline one of carbon dioxide.

14 ______> Other Climate Factors

There are alternative points of view regarding what effects we are actually seeing.

Earth itself has a natural wobble in its orbit which means the orientation of the poles to the sun varies over thousands of years. This can produce varied effects on polar ice-caps and regional temperatures.

Also there have been prior fluctuations in earth's temperatures resulting in ice ages and other variations.

Ice core samples have been useful in gauging prior concentrations of greenhouse gases and associated effects on ice distribution.

Volcanic eruptive periods with associated higher levels of carbon dioxide have resulted in useful warmer periods in the earth's climate.

There have been times when carbon dioxide levels have been a lot higher than our current levels.

And at times when plant growth was optimised carbon dioxide concentration was rapidly reduced.

______> The Carbon Demon

Our perception of carbon dioxide being the demon gas in current debate is reflected in attitudes to various fuels used to power cars with a strong antipathy to those producing a clear carbon dioxide to those such as diesel that produce a less clear carbon-heavy emission.

Beyond this now loom the effects of current proposals for dealing with or creating leverage in the reduction of carbon emissions which are quoted as having risen by over 30% from preindustrial levels and climbing rapidly since 2000.

And it is these proposals that should most concern us.

15 ______> What Approach Is Best

Will they produce the effects we really desire?

Or is it a stop-gap or even attention grabbing initiative which deflects attention from the real problems?

Or even worse, preventing effective strategies being developed to address the whole problem of energy production.

Of interest is the effect particular points of view have on the way we continue to consider these issues.

______> Perverse Incentives

At stake are livelihoods of many scientists and investigators.

Any investigator requires funding from some source. And such funding relies on effective presentations and lobbying.

It is much easier to obtain finance if the proposal toes the party line, or the line of current fashion in published research. The mere fact that many other people are looking at exactly the same frame gives greater creedance to an application that reinforces the party line.

Those outside of this have an increasingly difficult time in obtaining funding.

And this same problem haunts the alternatives we will be considering later in this book.

16 ______Chapter 2 Government and Other Initiatives

The most prominent reponses to the perceived global warming problem are meetings, taxes, deforestation statements and changes in propulsion systems for cars.

______> Kyoto

Regular meetings between governments have been occurring for many years The initial Kyoto protocol was adopted in 1997 and became effective from early 2005.

Various commitments have been made and then changed as popularity and economic circumstances had their effects.

Large economies that hugely influence world trade and financial markets have the largest clout in determining where these initiatives might go.

______> Major Nations' Responses

Often these economies, like the USA, and these days also China, are the greatest producers of greenhouse gases.

These governments have concerns about the effects on their economies of restricting themselves to tight targets that will affect their manufacturers.

Jobs and money flow could be affected.

There have been some interesting observations in this balancing act.

17 ______> USA Automotive Illustration

In the USA where the government has been reluctant to adopt rapid improvements in auto emission targets while Japan has embraced and even exceeded them, the supposedly more safe US car manufacturers have suffered declining sales compared to their Japanese counterparts.

Consumers are voting with their wallets. And the US economy and auto manufacturers have paid huge costs in recent times. Only government bailouts have stopped them going to the wall.

______> Political Responses

Just as with advances and discussions on free trade there are opinions from all quarters and the influences of the voting public (real or perceived) on the politicians attending these climate conferences.

Obtaining agreement between vastly variant nations with their own concerns, economies and levels of development is always going to be difficult.

Even jetting the participants to these gatherings raises questions about the influence and wisdom of these events.

What it does show is that there is serious concern about the issues. Enough that governments are prepared to spend huge sums in continuing to consider the problem.

18 ______> The Sceptics

Of course there are those sceptics who will insist this has little to do with it. That mere meetings and ideas to hold them are enough to perpetuate them.

______> Carbon Taxes

And then there is the way that has been proposed to deal with the issue – taxes.

Carbon taxes have been seen as a way to curb the rising greenhouse gases emissions. The more we produce the more we pay. Hitting the wallet should induce compliance.

And maybe that will do it. Certainly it is a traditional government way to attack issues. And it creates money for the coffers.

______> Where Is Our Focus

In doing so it can take the focus away from searching for alternative answers. If money has been paid in compliance, is there a need to look deeper?

And growth in revenue can make looking seriously at it even more difficult.

Reducing production reduces revenue and what can be done, or is already been done, with it.

And there is the question about the load on people. Costs of products and consumables will rise affecting household incomes.

19 ______> Democratic Government Limitations

In a democratic system in the West any government is voted in for only a term or two.

The power an administration wields is limited to its lifetime. And that length is not readily forseen. And decisions are driven by the pragmatism or expediency of retaining that power for as long as possible.

The most palatable solutions to the electorate will result in the longest terms of office.

Where this is not deemed wise then spin-doctoring the ideas helps create support.

Look at any government over ten or fifteen years and see where it is now. Therefore their ideas and drive will die with them. What is needed is some endurance of vision and direction.

By its very nature government does not produce this. Which is not to reject governments. History, if anything, suggests that limited terms for administrations are very wise. The abuse of prolonged rules is more the norm.

______> Entrepreneurial Responses

What other way is there to achieve some longer term results?

Entrepreneurial responses seem to be achieving what elected governments cannot.

Whether that is in helping prop up institutions like the UN by people like Ted Turner paying for the unrealised US contribution or the numbers involved in ventures to achieve the goal of making poverty history.

Entrepreneurial enterprises can generate lifetime thrusts and changes as their founders continue their mission.

20 ______> Mis-Guided Ideas

Which is not to say that these ideas will always be for the best or the most wise.

Mahatma Gandhi, with all his huge effect on Indian self government and in uniting India set his back on methods of mass cloth production and the educational system the British had introduced feeling this was part of the poison the British had introduced.

His strong belief was that India with its longer history, culture and spirituality had an advantage over the satanic civilisation European society had sought to introduce.

Any one of us can be very blinkered in our thinking. It may be useful (or at least of no direct adverse consequence) to produce a certain goal.

But for our general direction in all spheres we need the balance of each other to produce a more wise, holistic picture.

______> Malthus And Limitations

Sometimes great ideas like that of Malthus with his, at the time, radical idea that food production grows mathematically while human population grows geometrically (if left unchecked) can cause us to lock ourselves into a particular paradigm of thinking.

We can become blinkered to other possibilities and expect particular outcomes.

We get not what we hope for but what we expect.

If the wise have told us there is a limit to supply then we only look for ways around this.

21 ______> What Is The Real Supply

But if we thought the supply is far greater than we could ever need, then we would likely begin to seek out ways to utilise or acquire this.

Looking for abundance inspires creativity.

22 ______Chapter 3 Power Generation

At present many alternatives are being considered and implemented for power generation. Much has to do with the Kyoto protocol goals and carbon trading schemes.

Power generation companies have to be seen to be embracing renewable energy methods for supply.

______> Fuel For Transport

We still need fuel to drive our cars, trucks, boats and planes. With the background knowledge that our source of oil is not endless, or becomes more expensive to produce, as well as being big contributors to carbon emissions other sources for combustion and jet engines are being sought.

Some of these initiatives are having perverse effects on the balance of the world.

______> Biofuels

Plantings to produce biofuels are resulting in large scale deforestation: the opposite of what is felt best for reversing carbon dioxide increases. It is also absorbing land used for feeding the stomachs of the planet.

Increases in food prices occurred due at least in part to some of this. Our world population is about to hit seven billion.

Each of these individuals requires feeding. With improvements made to agriculture we were on target to manage this.

23 ______> Effects On Agriculture

But replacing arable land with fuel crops does not help us keep pace.

And areas like rice paddies, even those that are helpful in producing two or more crops a year, produce significant methane gas to add to the greenhouse gas problem.

As the population grows and developing nations become more affluent – just consider the cases of China and India representing 35% of the world's population – more people are using cars and requiring power to run their homes and businesses.

We need to hugely grow our capacity for energy production.

In planning for power sources the focus is more and more on renewable resources.

______> How “Green” Are Biofuels

Biofuels, even though they are felt to be “green” still produce significant carbon emissions. The most common produce over 40% of what the equivalent oil generation power would produce and the cleanest form still around a seventh of this greatest polluter .

This might sound quite good – a movement in the right direction. But when we consider the destruction of much more efficient photosynthesising forests and the loss of arable land it is not an ideal situation. Certainly not for the long term.

We need to be thinking far more more laterally and in a much cleaner fashion.

______> Renewable Source

Of course the appeal of biofuels is that they are “renewable”. We grow them, reap them, manufacture the fuel we need, and plant new crops. Its a yearly or maybe twice yearly cycle instead of waiting millions of years for plant matter to produce oil.

But what is the real long-term cost?

We can consider other suggested renewable energy supplies. Many are being developed and there are a number that have been around for a long time.

24 ______> Hydrogen

The ability of hydrogen when burned as a gas to produce ideally just water as its by-product gives an immediate appeal. Why not use this?

______> As A Fuel

It is already being used in a number of areas including in certain cars and in some public transport. And it seems an ideal fuel especially when compared with biofuels.

But it is not easy to store or transmit. Being such a light gas it can readily leak from any defect. Burning hydrogen gas can be near invisible.

It also tends to make the metals that contain it quite brittle.

______> In Power Production

There are two huge projects underway, one in the Middle East and another in California to produce some huge quantities to generate significant power.

The base for production of the hydrogen is natural gas in one and other petroleum products in another. To produce hydrogen from these carbon dioxide is produced and needs to be dealt with.

In these cases pumping it underground to increase petroleum production is proposed. This approach is still very new. There are some concerns at possible side effects.

Also the amount of energy produced from the hydrogen is much less than could be produced from the fuel it is made from.

This suggests another idea of using some other renewable energy sources which can be intermittent to produce a store of hydrogen with electrostatic production from water.

25 ______> Hydroelectricity

Hydoelectric power is one of those that has been employed for many years.

In the past there was not as much thought about the effects on the areas that were flooded. But in recent decades it has been increasingly difficult to justify flooding just about any area for the sake of power generation.

______> Land Effects

In a place like New Zealand protests halted raising a lake level to supply a greater level of power from its Manapouri lake origin. And other areas that power companies seek to develop cause protests about the loss of natural beauty.

And there are concerns about local widelife including fish that may be endemic to these areas or rely on the river for spawning purposes. When this is linked to concerns about over-fishing of the ocean, there may well be very valid extra reasons to consider these effects.

Still in countries like China, where there is less ability to influence these decisions, major projects have gone ahead. The Three Gorges Dams area has produced murmurs of concern from countries outside China itself.

Certainly it displaced a number of communities and will result in continued inundation of more areas of land. With the size of the project, the volume of water and subsequent weight imposed some wonder about the geological ability to support this. And what of a possible earthquake?

Other countries have voiced concerns about earth tremours causing ruptures to dams and the sudden flooding that would occur downstream wiping out villages and larger population centres with very little to no time to evacuate.

The number of viable sites to utilise for effective hydroelectric power production is severely limited.

26 ______> Wind Power

Then there are wind turbines. Many power companies are adding this method to their arsenal in a bid to lessen their carbon profile. In fact a number are buying up locations for turbines to place on their books without committing to actually building immediately.

There are a number of considerations regarding wind turbines.

______> Demand On Rare Earths

Each large capacity one requires 300kg (over 660lbs) of neodynium as well as a number of other rare earths. The USA, Australia and China hold the largest deposits of rare earths. The main supply areas in the USA ceased production years ago as requirements for clean extraction made the process prohibitively expensive.

Currently China supplies 97% of the world's rare earths. And they have imposed a limit on export as they seek to increase their renewable energy resources.

Other modern lifestyle essentials require rare earths as well – televisions, energy efficient fluorescent bulbs, fibre optics, iPods and hybrid vehicles.

The USA is currently evaluating bringing their rare earth mining back on line to cope with the current restriction in supplies.

27 ______> Environmental Effects

Wind turbines do have a physical presence wherever they are placed. Quite a number of people are not keen on having them visible from where they live. There is publicity out there, maybe wind farm developer released, suggesting once they are in place people seem less upset about the appearance.

Concerns about killing birds and bats with the gigantic turning blades seem less of an issue when looked at statistically. But obviously locating turbines away from migratory paths seems wise.

______> Health Effects

People have voiced concerns about the turbine noise. There are design considerations that can lessen some of this. And the developers produce evidence if very low decibel noise production. In Texas a suit brought by locals over this problem was thrown out of court.

However there is rising evidence of some significant health issues for people living around wind turbines. And there is experimental evidence from other quarters that would seem to back up these concerns.

Infranoise occurring below the normal hearing range as a vibration and very low frequency noise can cause significant body damage along with hearing, balance, learning and brain integration issues. There is even evidence of tumours occurring.

Wind turbines have not yet got enough history to produce all these effects. But a number are already showing. To see more check out my site about health effects of wind turbines and the wind turbine syndrome and others like that of Dr Nina Pierpont etc.

28 ______> Offshore Wind Turbines

Siting wind turbines some distance off shore solves a number of issues. They can be placed further away from human habitation, lessening visual and sound issues. Although the sea itself will allow conduction of noise efficiently over its surface which may require a bigger separation distance from dwellings than that for land-based sites.

Although a number of wind farms are already located in sea areas, the cost of reticulation – running the power to shore – is extremely high. Even over a number of kilometres providers are talking of millions to billions of dollars.

Wind energy production in itself is not cheap. Yes there is the cost of producing the turbines (including the materials involved in their production), siting them and then running the reticulation from them.

______> Intermittent Production

But the other factor is that they are an intermittent energy producer due to the variable nature of wind. Some other backup power source is needed – often fossil-fueled.

That raises other issues in regard to the emissions and having a secondary power station to be available with no earnings from it in down times.

29 ______> Ocean Energy

Wind itself is not especially efficient, although it may be free, when compared to using water with wave, tidal or ocean currents.

______> Tidal Barrages

One way of using tides by having effective dams collecting water behind them and then releasing them has issues with effects on the marine environment. This has been studied at a tidal barrage in France over a number of years with suggestions the changes are not that great and settle down rapidly over a few years.

______> Sea Turbines

But utilising turbines in the sea has less of an issue this way. There are still other factors to consider such as equipment fouling and again the cost of undersea reticulation from the generating to the substation site.

Another positive factor in utilising ocean energy is that it is consistent. Tides will have short periods of little flow. Ocean currents tend to be fairly continuous. There has been an observation of the Gulf Stream current speed falling by around 30% over a decade or so without us yet understanding why.

______> Wave Energy

Initiatives are underway utilising waves for energy. Obviously waves vary in size according to weather patterns. And hence a more variable or intermittent power generation will result.

Most methods currently evaluated are situated on the surface of the ocean. Surface structures will have an impact on shipping and boating as another hazzard or obstruction. But with water's more powerful energy generation than wind it is a worthwhile option to consider.

As with wind generation located offshore, there are increased costs in all ocean-based ventures for bringing the power once generated to the mainly land-based sites for distribution.

30 ______> Solar Power

Solar power has been a popular for some time. There has been government backing in a number of countries too with financial incentive packages available.

This has lead to more rapid adoption than with some other alternatives. And over time the costs of photovoltaic panels have fallen significantly. Technology advances are leading also to new variations on panels.

At the same time it has encouraged power companies to adopt this quite expensive technology as well.

______> Changes In Incentives

Consequently, and probably not helped with the recent economic downturn, many governments have been announcing the phasing out of subsidies. Power companies that have begun the long lead time to establish their stations have complained about these sudden changes and the economic impact it has on them.

______> Intermittent Generation

Solar power suffers from a similar problem to wind energy. It is intermittent, requiring some backup power station to insure continuous supply. As with wind this adds to costs and will affect the carbon impact.

______> Carbon Footprint

The carbon footprint of photovoltaic panels is higher than that for wind power. Using the sun for concentrated solar power such as with heliostats to drive turbines has a lot lower carbon footprint .

31 ______> Geothermal Power

One other important renewable energy resource is geothermal.

______> Open Systems

In a number of areas of the world this can be from geothermal sources close to the surface – areas that have natural geysers and other geothermal phenomena. In these places very hot water sources are readily available to drive turbines to produce power.

______> Medium Ground Heat Areas

Those areas with less high temperature sources can use heat exchangers with low boiling point gases that will again drive turbines.

______> Closed Systems For All Areas

For just about anywhere in the world differences in air and especially ground temperatures from inside dwellings can be used to provide heat exhange for cooling and heating. Not so much here for power generation. But at least it lowers power demand.

Closed loop geothermal systems have very low carbon footprints. More open ones with release of geothermal gases have somewhat higher ones.

32 ______> Our Current Needs

A Scientific American article from November 2009 – A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030 – noted the ability to use renewable resources to supply the world's energy needs which they place at 12 terawatts (although the current Wikipedia notes it as 15 terawatts) is possible using various sources excluding nuclear power which they note as having a negative carbon effect on the environment.

But they note that there will be serious concerns about the supply of various materials especially rare earth metals required in wind turbines and photo-voltaic cells for solar energy generation.

And this is not considering an increase in consumption from developing countries as their requirements change.

33 ______> Power Generation Costs By Type

What is the real cost per unit of the various types of power generation? Because ultimately the cost of power generation does drive what is produced.

In some areas of the world it is possible to chose the power source that your provider offers you. It is possible to elect to pay a higher rate to access more renewable-sourced energy.

The bottom line though is that eventually we tend to be cost driven in our decisions, especially at times of financial stress.

______> Lowest Cost Generation

From costings that have been done by a number of sources it is possible to broadly assign generating costs. Sources such as nuclear, gas, coal, biomass, biomass co-firing, landfill gas and geothermal fall into a lower cost frame.

______> Medium Cost Generation

At a medium cost level, with a range of estimates, are hydro schemes from large to small to micro, wind, wave and tidal methods.

______> Highest Cost Generation

The highest cost schemes are the solar types whether photovoltaic or solar heating and thermal types of energy production. So although the sun does provide us with more than enough energy to supply our requirements, it is the most expensive power to generate.

Costs in energy production fall into a variety of areas from the actual production of the facility or unit to produce the energy to the unit generating costs on a day to day basis and then to those of power delivery or reticulation.

34 ______> Nuclear Power

Not mentioned so far except in the generating costs argument is nuclear power.

This has been been heavily touted in recent times as a great source of energy.

When considered on a weight of fuel to amount of energy produced it is by many times the most efficient. Bill Gates has put his name behind the idea of the efficient breeder reactors.

But there are problems both in public perception and actual provision of this abundant source.

______> Waste Disposal

A major problem still is the disposal of nuclear waste. There is still no widely-accepted effective method and place for storage of the long-life radioactive residue.

______> Nuclear Accidents

And then there are the accidents which each time create years of distrust of this source. Three Mile Island freaked out the US and a number of other countries. Then even more serious was Chernobyl .

We can all look and say that the reactor design was old and poor in that USSR-located, currently Ukranian, power station.

Until the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami that unleashed the problem that is Fukushima . Initially played down, it is now acknowledged to have caused widespread contamination.

Yes it was a somewhat older design reactor. And yes it was built to withstand lower grade earthquakes and smaller tsunamis than the ones that struck it.

35 ______> An Inherent Design Problem

But the problem is an essential one for all nuclear fission reactors. When the reactor goes offline (or is scrammed) for whatever reason there is a considerable post-closedown time where cooling is essential.

And, the other problem was well illustrated in the Fukushima reactor four and probably at least one other. Explosions occurred caused by the spent fuel rods. After removal from active service in the reactors these rods require about eighteen months or so of further cooling in specially built facilities before they are inactive enough to be contained in solid non-cooled containers.

The explosions occurred as these water-cooled spent fuel rods were exposed to air. It is not easy to switch off a nuclear fission reactor.

______> Over-riding Multiple Failsafes

Another important point is that in all the accidents that have been named above the resultant damage did not occur because of just a single problem. An intial incident was compounded in each case by a number of unfortunate errors, one off events and other incidents that caused the multiple built-in failsafe backup systems to ultimately fail to protect the communities they were in.

______> Continuous Production

Nuclear fission power is efficient. It can be produced continuously. It has a low carbon footprint. Once a station is built it is relatively cheap to run.

Its just that accidents do happen, Murphy's law seems to operate. And we have yet to find an effective and safe way to look after the wastes that are produced.

______> Terrorism Concerns

Beyond this are the other concerns of countries using the technology to produce nuclear weapons and the grave danger terrorism would pose if nuclear type technologies were mis-used or employed.

36 ______> Another Source

What if there was some way to produce energy as efficiently as nuclear fission – on a pound for pound or kilo for kilo fuel basis for megaWatts of energy?

What if it was able to be switched off on demand without continued wind-down requirements?

What if it also had a minimal to no carbon footprint?

And what if it could be readily located close to population and delivery sites?

And what if it was even cheaper?

The next segment examines the possibility of answering these questions.

And also the next highly relevant question – how long before this would be available?

37 ______Chapter 4 Fusion Power

I believe this is a hugely viable answer to all the problems and considerations above. But there are issues around it that need to be considered.

Although there was interest in nuclear fusion beginning before the Second World War and intensive research since 1954, viable fusion power has not yet been achieved.

______> The Nuclear Fusion Reaction

Essentially nuclear fusion is the way the sun and the stars generate their power. And it is much more potent than nuclear fission in power delivery.

Hence the development of hydrogen bombs following the initial atomic bombs.

The sun is able to produce its fusion reaction with the combination of the gravitational pressures its size induces and the high temperatures at its core – around fifteen million degrees centigrade.

The underlying reaction is a combining of lower weight atomic nuclei to produce heavier nuclei.

______> P-P: Hydrogen Fusion

At its most simple it uses hydrogen nuclei to produce helium atoms and those larger ones beyond. As hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe there are good reasons to find a method to utilise it.

The use of straight hydrogen as a fuel source is fraught with difficulties. It requires huge pressures and temperatures because of the increased repelling effect of the single charged nuclear proton particle and its relative size.

38 ______> D-T: Deuterium Tritium Fusion

From the beginning of research this was realised and most of the strategies have consisted in using deuterium and tritium as the source and fusing them. These hydrogen isotopes have one and two non-charged neutrons respectively in their nuclei along with the definitive single positively charged proton. This mass increase without increased charge allows the strong nuclear attractive forces to more easily overcome the repelling force of other nuclei positive charges.

______> Deuterium

Deuterium occurs naturally in seawater as an isotope about 3 in 10,000 by weight It can be concentrated as heavy water.

______> Tritium

To create tritium for reactor purposes lithium (both 6 and 7 isotopes can be used) and also boron 10 are employed. Bombarding these with neutrons creates a tritium by-product.

As an example of this the design of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor) reactor incorporates a lithium shield which aids in this production.

______> Ideal Fusion Conditions

Fusion of atomic nuclei occurs at very high temperatures – well beyond those that conventional materials can contain. And ideally it also requires high pressures.

As the gravitational field present in the sun (with its creation of huge internal pressures) is not available to us, even higher temperatures are needed – 150 million degrees centigrade – ten times that of the sun. Or we need to create systems duplicating the high pressures as near as we can.

39 ______> Containing Fusion Reactions

The challenge for all fusion research has been how best to contain the material that will produce the reactions.

Typically plasmas (electron-stripped atoms) have been used for the production. As these are charged particles they can be contained within electromagnetic fields.

Typically the Western world had been pursuing a torus doughnut-shaped type of field.

In the Soviet block a more D-shaped tokamak was used. From the time in the 1960s when some of this technology was shared between the two sides of the cold war the tokamak proved superior in achieving the containment required to head towards the creation of effective fusion.

______> Alternatives To Containment

Alternatively an intermittent, pulsed-type fusion reaction can be employed somewhat akin to an internal combustion engine where power generation occurs with each pulse.

Known as inertial confinement, as opposed to the above magnetic confinement, the idea is to compress the target fuel to replicate high pressures more similar to that in the sun and other stars.

Then by adding extra heat an instantaneous fusion reaction can occur.

There are a number of variations on this idea.

40 ______> JET And Fusion

A large international collaborative group began the project known as JET – Joint European Torus – although the actual confinement apparatus is a 3 metre external diameter tokamak.

In operation since 1983, and located in Culham in the United Kingdom, in 1991 it produced the world's first claimed controlled fusion reaction.

In 1997 it managed to produced 16 MegaWatts of power – a 65% output of fusion energy compared to the required input power to achieve this.

It is still an active fusion development project employing multitudes of staff. In 2011 changes in the lining wall are to be implemented to more closely resemble the next project we look at.

41 ______> ITER

JET is the embryonic research for international jointly funded research and development of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) device in France.

ITER , jointly funded and progressed by countries of the European Community, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the USA, will cost 10 billion Euros over 35 years in an attempt to generate 500MW from 50MW input power.

______> ITER Design

The site platform is a kilometre long and 400 metres wide taking 2 years to establish and was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009. Situated on this platform will be the 23,000 tonne tokamak comprised of 18 D-shaped units weighing 360 tonne each (around the weight of a fully laden Boeing 747-300). Each unit will be transported along a specially constructed road from the coast.

______> Proposed Testing Stages

The plan is to initially trial the device with plain hydrogen to check all the systems over the years 2013 to 2014.

The next stage will be utilising deuterium and a small amount of tritium.

The third stage will be with equal quantities of deuterium and tritium.

42 ______> IFMIF

Meanwhile there is another element of the project – IFMIF (International Fusion Irradiation Materials Facility) – that is underway in Japan to test the suitability of materials for the plant.

Once greater output than input energy generation has been proven, then the next stage of the project can begin.

______> DEMO

This is the DEMO power plant which is estimated to be up and running in the 2030 decade and feeding power onto the grid in 2040.

______> DEMO Power Plant Design

The DEMO plant is designed to work in a similar way to fission nuclear reactors with the heat produced from the energy of the reaction being fed into water heating it to drive turbines.

______> Time-Frame

People involved in ITER are talking of the last quarter of the 21 st century as being the time when fusion power will be generally available – 2075 on!

At the cost for the unit and the lead time required when compared to concerns about balancing the current effects of global warming this venture is not in the ball park of a possible option to help alleviate our immediate perceived problems.

There are other concerns about the project too.

There is the high cost and the long construction and lead up time.

43 ______> By-Products

The by-products of the process are radioactive (as is tritium – one of the fuels) although with much shorter half lives than waste products from current nuclear fission plants.

Any downtime and reconditioning of the plant needs to take this into account.

______> The ITER Effect

An interesting side effect of the ITER project is the amount the world has invested in it.

The countries involved represent half the world's population.

With its huge cost each of the governments involved is supplying a significant amount of money.

As was noted earlier in this book the amount of money committed to a particular idea tends to skew the funding available for other projects.

There are many other institutions in the countries contributing to ITER that are pursuing aligned research. If so much is being devoted to it then other research which supports or aligns with ITER appeals on a proven and useful basis.

Ideas for alternatives appear as a deflection of interest and energy.

Even so if it achieved its purpose ITER would certainly offer a way to achieve high yields of power production with a resource that is widely available.

44 ______> Cold Fusion

From the time when it initially burst onto the world stage, cold fusion has loomed large in the public mind.

There was huge media response to claims from scientists in Utah that they had proven fusion occurring in room temperature liquids.

Subsequent investigators were unable to reproduce the results.

The original findings came under close scrutiny and questioning.

______> More Recent Interest

Of late there have been some other investigators who claim there may be something of interest in the idea. And they propose fuel cells run by such a process.

However there is still significant doubt about the idea generally.

And even the converts' most optimistic predictions of this are talking of a time frame of decades.

45 ______> Other Fusion Research

With all the publicly generated information about ITER and cold fusion people can be lead to believe that is all that is available in the fusion field. In the meantime are there other possibilities out there.

And the purpose of the rest of this book is to examine these to see if there might not be some viable alternatives.

Like ITER, there are a couple that fall into the deuterium/tritium fuel systems with the attendant concerns about radioactive by-products. But they are interesting to look at as they show signs of promise.

46 ______> General Fusion

General Fusion founded by Dr Michael Laberge with CEO Doug Richardson uses acoustically (sound) driven magnetised target fusion utilising a piston-like action to achieve fusion inside a spherical chamber targeted by multiple feeder tubes to create repeated centrally compressive forces to induce fusion.

Instead of trying to confine the plasma the idea is to create instantaneous plasma fusion effects sequentially with huge instantaneous pressures.

______> Funding

Seed capital of $1.2 million Canadian from the Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital group was received in 2007. And a Canadian Government arm, the Sustainable Development Technology Canada body committed $13.9 million Canadian in 2009. There has been contribution from the US Los Alamos National Laboratory and Powertech Labs Inc.

______> Production Costs

The proposed commercial unit is expected to cost $8 million Canadian and produce 50MW of power, assuming the testing produces expected results. Dr Laberge is hopeful of achieving a breakthough in the next few years.

47 ______> Sandia Laboratories And Z-Pinch

The huge US government funded Sandia National Laboratories has produced a massive machine – the Z-Pinch – fed by high voltage via 36 transmission cables into a central core of metal wires that vapourise and then collapse inwards creating an electromagnetic compression with high temperatures that have reached a Guinness Book of Records highest ever temperature – higher than sun and star core temperatures.

It would be possible to have a deuterium/tritium pellet placed at the centre of this system, compress and heat it and cause fusion. Then a new pellet would need to be introduced for the next cycle.

______> Possible Power Production Levels

If that was possible once every ten seconds it has been calculated that 300MW could be produced.

Again this produces neutrons which create special problems or design challenges of their own to utilise or shield them and with the known effects on the structural materials involved. Again these can be utilised, along with a molten lithium blanket, to generate more tritium.

48 ______> The National Ignition Campaign

Another idea along this line has been designed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories under the title of the National Ignition Campaign . There is huge cooperation in this between a number of other large weapons manufacturer businesses similar to LLNL.

These are Los Alamos Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories (as above) and General Atomics of San Diego.

______> LIFE – Laser Inertial Fusion Engine

The LIFE - Laser Inertial Fusion Engine – is designed to reproduce huge pressures and temperatures over a short impact time. It aims 192 laser beams at a tiny cylindrical target called a hohlraum. There is still research going on as to the best materials for this cylinder – currently variations on gold and uranium.

______> Laser Array

The laser array has been designed by the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of Rochester.

______> Hohlraum

The hohlraum is seeded with a deuterium and tritium mixed pellet and cooled down to 18 to 20 degrees Kelvin. The intial laser pulse from the 192 beams reflects off the internal walls of the cylinder causing intense heating and compression of the pellet to cause the a fusion reaction.

Then a new hohlraum with a further pellet in place is moved to the target area in the chamber ready for the next pulse.

49 ______> HiPER

HiPER standing for Hi gh Power laser Energy Research facility is a European version of inertial confinement by laser. Beginning later than the National Ignition Facility but pursuing a similar course it is able to use information from the US in its development.

Again the idea is like that of a combustion engine with intial fuel compression and then ignition. Laser compression of fusion fuel was demonstrated experimentally in the 1970s.

Their approach differs from NIF with the laser and some of the design features that will be used.

______> Petal Laser

Central to the design is the Petal laser developed in Aquitanine, France. Petal derives from PET awatt Aquitaine Laser – funded by the local government of the Aquitaine.

The ultimate HiPER facility is expected to require two pulses, the first longer (nanosecond 10 - 9) pulse at 200kJ. This will compress the fuel pellet as it heats the exterior. The second short (picosecond 10 -12 ) pulse at 70kJ will ignite the fuel.

______> LIL Laser

An older laser, the LIL (for Ligne d'Intégration Laser), produces four beams each delivering infrared and ultraviolet light. Two LILs are expected to be used. When combined with the Petal laser a power intensity of 10 21 W/cm 2 will be achieved.

This combination is hoped to lower the total power requirements to achieve fusion, enabling a net gain on derived power over input requirements.

50 ______> Countries Involved

The UK was chosen to head the project which involves 25 institutes from UK, France, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, Rusia, Poland and Portugal. It has connections with Asia and North America.

______> Timeline For Development

From 2008 to 2013 preparatory and definitive studies will be employed with aim of being able to commit to construction of the actual working facility by 2013. Construction is proposed from 2014 to 2020 for the working power production model estimated to cost 800 million Euro.

51 ______> Electron Power Systems

Electron Power Systems founded by Clint Seward in Acton, Massachusetts has produced details of spontaneous self-contained plasma effects similar to that seen in ball lightning.

They have claimed electron spiral toroids create similar reactions.

A paper has been advanced to explain ball lightning on this model. Such plasma toroids remain stable in the air for tens of seconds with no external magnetic confinement.

In 1992 the effect was reproduced in the laboratory and the results published.

In response there was a NASA produced paper that extensively questioned aspects of the study and proposal. And there has been a further rebuttal of this by the researchers.

______> Proposed Funding

The company is seeking $2 million US as initial capital to produce a demonstration unit in around 18 months and then look to $8 million US for developing a working prototype over a further 18 months.

______> Power For Propulsion

There is hope that this will not only be applicable to power production, but also automotive and aerospace propulsion. But details of the fuel arrangements are not currently proven.

52 ______> Plasmak And Spheromak

Coming from a similar concept based on observations of ball lightning, is Paul M Koloc's Plasmak and spheromak ideas.

Based in Maryland, Prometheus II Ltd and the charitable status Neoteric Research Inc are pursuing the idea that plasma balls can last for quite long periods of time with no external magnetic compression.

Hence they offer the possibility of generating small and relatively cheap units for fusion generated power and motive power for rocket engines etc.

______> Fuel Sources

In looking at fuel sources P M Koloc has considered deuterium and helium3 and also proton (hydrogen) and boron11 to produce aneutronic fusion.

53 ______> Aneutronic Nuclear Fusion

The remaining initiatives we can look at are all based on this aneutronic fusion idea all utilising proton and boron11 fuel producing clean helium4 as a by-product and x-rays.

Aneutronic basically implies no neutrons are produced from the reactions.

This has an impact on increased safety for power workers and cheaper build costs through lesser materials for shielding and the fact that neutron production can weaken construction materials over time. In fact at times a small number of neutrons can be produced by other collisions occurring in the medium.

______> Temperature Requirements

Much higher temperatures are required for aneutronic pB11 fusion than for DT.

______> Hydrogen Sourcing

Hydrogen is relatively easily obtained from water, although at the moment the greatest amount of hydrogen being commercially produced is through gassification and steam reforming of petroleum products. These later processes employ relatively high temperatures in the presence of steam along with a catalyst like nickel to release hydrogen.

And there is not the requirement as with deuterium-based models to separate out a lower proportion fraction. The base fuel is much more abundant.

54 ______> Boron Sourcing

Boron is available in a couple of major deposits, the most utilised being the USA in the Mojave desert. The largest amounts are located in central and western Turkey.

A large amount of boron also is available in seawater.

______> Fuel Availability

Boron and hydrogen together give over a billion years of fuel available to us on earth (even with vastly increased power demands), enough time for us to develop other sources and ideas!

______> A Brief History

The three companies noted below were all accessing funding through NASA or the US Navy in previous years to pursue further research, geared especially towards propulsion systems for space vehicles, ships and submarines.

As government funding was cut to the agencies research funding could not be passed on to these companies and suddenly they had no further capital to continue research and were forced to look elsewhere. This affected the momentum of ongoing research.

But as more funding has come on line they have been able to start up again.

55 ______> Tri Alpha Energy

One company Tri Alpha Energy, formed by Norman Rostoker (b 1925), is based in Foothill Ranch California.

______> Funding

Previously funded by naval research grants, in 2007 Tri Alpha Energy raised $40 million from a consortium of investors including Paul Allen formerly of Microsoft.

______> Design

Norman Rostoker had been involved in the Migma ion beam collider. He is using this principle with a reversed field configuration to increase the density for reactions.

There is not much freely available information about the process but diagrams in circulation show large cylindrical coils several metres in diameter lying on their side and maybe about ten metres long.

The investors involved obviously feel there is a good chance of a positive outcome.

56 ______> Polywell Fusion And EMC2

Polywell Fusion that grew from the EMC2 Fusion Development Corporation uses combined inertial electrostatic confinement along with magnetic confinement to produce fusion in an apparatus known as a Wiffle Ball.

______> Funding

Robert W Bussard lead most of this research from 1983. He died in October 2007 just after EMC2 had received $2 million US.

A further $7.8 million was contracted after showing successful results from the WB-7 lead by Dr Richard Nebel.

As of early 2011 no further funding is forthcoming.

______> Design And History

His basic machine has gone through a number of expanded designs to improve on imperfections in past ones and to upscale the results.

All are based on doughnut-shaped elements connected together in a cube. In each doughnut are wound wires conducting electrical current creating their own magnetic field.

Hydrogen and boron are injected into the middle of this arrangement.

Stripped electrons contained by the magnetic field create a charged cloud to compress the positively charged nuclei, creating fusion – ion beams being released to enable power to be created.

The WB-7 machine produced its first plasma in January 2008.

WB-8 was constructed in June 2009 to demonstrate that the results will mirror projected outcomes where power output increases to the seventh power of the doughnut radius.

The team expects the current project to be completed by April 2011.

57 ______> Working Unit Expected Design And Cost

A working nuclear fusion energy producing Polywell Fusion machine is projected to be three metres in diameter and produce 100MW of power!

The expected cost to produce a unit of this size is around $200 million.

58 ______> Dense Plasma Focus And Lawrenceville Plasma Physics

Dense Plasma Focus was funded by NASA and others in the past. But with the decline in federal funding for NASA's projects this was withdrawn and there was a period of little development.

In the last couple of years the director Eric Lerner, with a background in astrophysics, of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics , NJ has received outside funding.

______> Basic Design Idea

The project aims to build an optimum-sized machine to achieve effective fusion with pB11 fuel, based on computer modelling and utilising electromagnetic confinement.

The generated plasma collapses in on itself in a pinch effect producing higher temperatures and more effective fusion conditions.

Helium nuclei are produced. These can then be directly utilised to generate power rather than the ITER one that will generate neutron-derived energy to heat water to drive turbines.

A large part of the cost structure in a power plant design can then be avoided allowing for cheap power delivery.

______> Dense Plasma Focus Design History

The first record of this method for producing fusion was announced around the same time by teams in the USA and USSR. In the early 1960s N. V. Filippov in Moscow and J. W. Mather in Berkeley, California published papers announcing success with the method. The actual design for each unit was somewhat different but followed a basic principal which has lead to further work since then.

Essentially a large current is passed down a central anode which has some insulating material surrounding its proximal end. As the charge travels distal to this it communicates a discharge through the gaseous fuel medium to the surrounding cathode array.

On reaching the distal end of the anode the charged field collapses on itself to create an intense electromagnetic field which then compresses the fuel further causing the fusion reaction to occur.

59 ______> Other Dense Fusion Units

There are already a number of these dense plasma base devices for research purposes in at least eight countries around the world including Poland, the USA, Singapore, Argentina and Chile.

Sharing of results and data occurs freely. Part of the unit in Singapore lists data and calculations to determine the appropriate size and charge required to build units to achieve particular aims.

______> LPP Results

The LPP one is the theoretical size that will achieve effective fusion results.

Lawrenceville Plasma Physics announced its first pinch from the machine on October 15 2009.

A soon to be released paper reveals that four shots, three in January 2011 and one in September 2010, attained average ion energies of over 160 keV (the equivalent of 1.8 billion degrees) .

______> Proposed Future Direction

A progressive number of tests will be conducted beginning with deuterium/tritium fuel and going on to a hydogen and boron mix.

Once the results are proven then the next step is producing a commercial prototype.

The time frame expected for this is over the next few years.

60 ______> Production And Costs

The device is expected the be able to be constructed at minimal cost (half a million US dollars – less with time) and produce 5 MW of power per unit very cheaply. This would make it a viable possibility for less wealthy communities to have ready access to power and its benefits.

The size of the units is small too – garage-size. And with the safety profile where they shut down immediately when power is cut, they can be located within and close to communities that need them. The cost of reticulation for power distribution would also be minimal.

To my mind this initiative is one of the front-runners for viable fusion power in the very near future. And a number of its design ideas make it an ideal choice for future deployment.

61 ______> Other Initiatives

There are other initiatives out there as well. It is interesting that they run so far below the radar that a lot of people are not aware of them.

______> Fusion Wrap-up

Certainly our knowledge of possibilities changes our expectations of what the future might hold and definitely about what our range of options might be.

Without this we will make decisions and set ourselves on courses that may not be for our best in the short term.

But in the long term such limited thinking is suidical.

We need to have access to all possible ideas and make some real commitments to outcomes that will benefit us, our children, their children and the planet.

Also with this knowledge we can challenge initiatives that are limited and demand an effective outcome and better use of our hard-earned money and the time that is ahead of us.

62 ______Postscript

Getting clear on what my life purpose really was gave me the courage and clarity to see what I should be doing with my life especially in pursing opportunities in the energy field.

I could be absolutely decisive about becoming involved in it at whatever level was available.

And I became even more totally excited when I saw there was definitely great scope for further investigation and development of these methods.

Voraciously hungry especially after being challenged again about following my passion, I found a company that had a clear-cut method for achieving the results I was looking for in a relatively short period of time.

And my continuing curiosity enabled me to see that I could get involved without having to go back and re-train.

I could get behind the team that was established.

And I could arouse other people's curiosity in a way that would generate funds to help me participate even more and make a chance for years of cheap clean energy a viable reality.

And it began with intense curiosity.

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