The scientists used lasers to fuse two light atoms into a single one, releasing 3.15MJ (megajoules) of energy from 2.05MJ of input – roughly enough to boil a kettle.

Why do we even study this? Renewables are the only way. This is a waste of money which is a finite resource.

  • CTDummy@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    In the way the other poster compared them? Yes, in so far as people who complain “the new, developing technology isn’t immediately as optimised and refined as I want it to be” for both.

    • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Do you have a basic understanding of the challenges of getting electricity from a fusion reaction vs the challenges of manufacturing PV panels?

      • CTDummy@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        Seeing as you deliberately seem to be missing the point in order to try and feel smarter I’m going to leave you to it. Have a good one.

        • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          We can carry on throwing money at it, I’m fine with that. Thinking that fusion is going to save us is dangerous though. We need to be taking action now to get us off fossil fuels and the most cost-effective way to do that is renewables + storage.

      • lntl@lemmy.mlOP
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        11 months ago

        i think a central barrier at the moment is fusion doesn’t readily start a chain reaction like fission can. scientists are likely exploring the use of the yield of the fusion reaction to reload the reactor (kind of like an automatic firearm) and these techniques are far from mature in this setting.

        PV is a simpler mechanism in every way and we’ve been studying it for more than 100 years. They’re very different both technologically and maturity-wise

        • DerGottesknecht@feddit.de
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          11 months ago

          The sun is a fusion reactor which is sustaining a reaction for millions of years already. Iter is a concept which tries to emulate this