The Sun's The Limit - No More

Let's startoff with our newly discovered miracle of science. Limitless fusion energy. By using lasers and a tiny bit of hydrogen, scientists have created a fusion ignition event which gave off 1.5 Joules of energy, when it only took 1.0 Joules to make it happen. That's called, getting a BONUS.

Now, once it get's put to good use, I imagine the first applications will be energy production plants. Nuclear power plants will probably be the first ones to get converted because they have the processes required for transforming huge amounts of thermal energy into electricity through the use of boilers and condensers, and steam turbine engines. Now, on the same scale as what Nuclear Reactors can currently put out, were talking TEN TIMES more energy. Maybe more. Fission is good, but FUSION is better, and less radioactive waste too!

Once the Nuclear fission plants convert to clean fusion, they'll start cranking out the power. How expensive is Uranium compared with Hydrogen? I'd say pennies to the millions since Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and all Uranium in existence was created in the super nova of dying stars, billions of years ago. Simply put, we will NEVER have more Uranium than we have now. Not unless we grab some from other heavenly bodies in space, which is a pretty hard thing to do, I'd say.

Now, whether the powers that be, decide to make energy cheaper than it is now, is a crap-shoot. I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but... I doubt your local power company is going to pass the savings of nuclear fusion onto you. If anything, they'll say they have to spend more on converting the facilities and well, that's going to cost you, but in a couple hundred years, they'll be able to bring the cost of electricity down! Imagine that. In the mean time, heavy industrial applications will begin creating their own mini-fusion generators.

Imagine a steel plant. Instead of burning oil, coal, petrol, gas, or using megawatts of electricity to smelt iron out of ore, they'll have their very own fusion generator. When faced with the cost of fuels compared with the minimal cost of a fusion generator with very little environmental impact (the byproduct of a fusion generator is helium which can be used in many other applications). Another surprise is that Helium is not a renewable resource. Hydrogen and Helium are so light that, when released into the atmosphere, they rise until they exit the atmosphere and get torn away from the earth by solar winds, never to return! Using a fusion reactor will create Helium, and allow manufacturers to harvest this byproduct, resulting in an almost never ending supply of the stuff.

So, let's start a count. Limitless energy (Fusion Reactor/Generator) uses Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, and produces Helium. It also produces more energy than it consumes. It will reduce environmental impacts because there is little waste including very little radioactive waste. It does not use fossil fuels. It won't add air pollution. The point is to create heat that can be harnessed to create electricity so yes, there will be heat, but since there will be an abundance of energy created, this excess energy can be used to power other things. Waste heat being pumped into bodies of water tends to be a big deal, but with excess unlimited energy, we could virtually eliminate these excess heat wastes because the byproduct would not be radioactive or deadly. What I'm saying is, improved efficiency, tighter closed systems, greater energy utilization, and more power. Less loss.

Besides companies that use a lot of electricity and energy, an abundance of excess energy production will allow smaller countries to operate and provide free electricity to their communities at a fraction of the cost. I know this sounds weird but, there is still a huge percentage of the world's population that have no access to electricity. With unlimited electricity, that will change. With nations getting more out of their generators than they put into them, and with the fuel being something as easily obtained as hydrogen and light, the only obstacle will be TIME and Infrastructure. They'll need raw materials to make electric conductors (cables, wires, etc) and they'll need grids and power subdivisions to ensure the safe and orderly distribution of electricity.

With unlimited energy comes unlimited electricity, and that enables the ability to manufacture or produce almost anything at a fraction of the cost. Raw materials will be mined cheaper. Smelted cheaper. Cast and produced, cheaper. Electric rail will become the dominant form of transportation AGAIN. Trains will run twenty four hours a day with no care for parts that wear out because they can easily be melted down and recast to make new ones with unlimited free energy.

Heating and cooling will become cheaper. Transportation will become cheaper. Grown food, animal meat, plants and vegetables will become the new hot commodities. Even so, those can be grown at an accelerated rate when you can provide the optimal amount of lighting, water and nutrients in a controlled environment that runs twenty four seven on free electricity. The new limiting factors for industrialized nations will no longer be infrastructure or energy costs, but space, natural resources, landscapes, crops, and animals.

Electromagnetic propulsion will become the new norm. Electrical based weapons will become the new cutting edge devices of war. Wars will be waged over natural resources, land, politics and religion, just as they always have been.

Limitless energy will transform the face of this planet, allowing us to unlock things we never imagined, and yet, I feel it may not change that much. We already have geo-thermal energy. We have win turbines and hydro-electric plants. We have solar panels and machines that harness ocean currents, waves, and more. We have a hundred ways to harness the free energy we are already given by our environment and by nature, and yet we squander each of them at every turn. Politicians preaching that they know what is best for us, make back door deals with our electricity, water and gas providers, making sure we pay as much as we possibly can, without raising too much suspicion, and just little enough for us to keep believing that they have our best interests in mind. My hope for this new discovery is that it breaks the chains that bind us all, and provides us with a renewed hope of peace and prosperity.