an ever-changing climate, with hazardous effects on the earth and its atmosphere, coupled with a malfunctioning political structure, led to a disastrous energy crisis. 

furthermore, skeptics of these worsening conditions tarnished the previously stellar reputation of leading scientists and engineers around the world. yet, the altruistic nature of these scientists and engineers allowed for perseverance through these societal and political hindrances, to make way for the silver bullet of the deteriorating energy industry: nuclear fusion.

since the mid-20th century, nuclear fusion has been a scientific mystery that had the potential to solve the world’s energy crisis. nuclear fusion is so revolutionary because it utilizes the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen, to produce electricity without any toxic waste byproducts. fusion technology utilizes the energy emitted from the collision of hydrogen nuclei at high speeds. 

conversely, nuclear fission technology splits atoms of expensive, radioactive, and rare earth elements such as uranium and plutonium. while nuclear fission has been utilized extensively, primarily for electricity generation and thermonuclear weapons, sustained nuclear fusion reactions have since alluded scientists. 

due to the extremely high temperatures required to sustain a fusion reaction, as well as other engineering limitations, nuclear fusion fell to the wayside of the cheaper and more abundant coal and natural gas.  as the years passed, the energy crisis only became more serious, forcing almost all oil, natural gas, and coal to be mined to power the ever-increasing economy and population. 

alongside the depletion of natural resources, the earth’s temperature continued to increase, due to greenhouse gas and particulate emissions. the increasing atmospheric temperature continued the melting of polar ice, with decreasing albedo (ice reflectivity) creating a positive feedback loop, resulting in rising sea levels. 

additionally, the particulate emissions from the transportation sector and coal-fired power plants led to health issues for citizens in densely populated areas. despite how apparent these problems became, many governments around the world failed to respond, whether it be for a lack of resources or a yearning for power.  as the human population continued to grow at an exponential rate, these problems were exacerbated. thus heightening the necessity for a solution to the economic, environmental and energy related crises the earth was facing.

however dark a picture these issues painted, the scientists and engineers of the world continued their research to find a solution. while advances in solar, wind, and hydropower technologies were important, their life cycle emissions, low efficiencies, and intermittency could not bear the peak load of power that the world continuously demanded. however, after decades of research, came a sustained nuclear fusion reaction that could potentially power a large city.  while the scientists knew that the feasibility of nuclear fusion power was low, the energy crisis was not going to solve itself. 

despite political pushback, they continued to lengthen the sustained reactions – improving the feasibility of the project. one issue that could not be hurdled was the high cost of this research. it is estimated that it would cost roughly $4 billion u.s. per year to continue improving fusion technology to a developmental stage. although this seems too expensive, in a time of economic and environmental crisis, nuclear fusion (when completed) has relatively no fuel or maintenance costs. unlike any other power source used at the time, a fusion reactor would use roughly enough hydrogen fuel to fit in the bed of a pickup truck, to produce 1,000 mw, and the reactor would operate all year long. 

as of 2050, nuclear fusion reactors eliminated the intermittency problems faced with solar and wind power, minimized fuel and maintenance costs, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions dramatically. yes the upfront costs for research, development, and building of these reactors were large, but they have proven effective. with electrical infrastructure already in place, these reactors can be constructed virtually anywhere, creating clean, renewable power for thousands of structures. 

and as for the scientists, engineers, activists, and supporters of clean power for a sustainable future, that did not see their hard work in action, they are the martyrs that solved the energy crisis.

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reference:

• fedoruk centre (2016). fusion 2030: a roadmap for canada. retrieved from http://www.fedorukcentre.ca/docs/fusion_2030_roadmap_20160930.pdf

the complete conversion of deuterium nuclear fuel releases an energy content of 250 x 10^15 joules per metric ton of deuterium. the quantity of deuterium in the world’s oceans is estimated at 4.6 x 10^13 metric tons. deuterium present in seawater will yield around 5 x 10^11 tw-year of energy. in the year 2011 the entire planet consumed around 16 tw-years of energy, which means that the energy content of the deuterium in seawater would be enough for 31 billion years of energy supply.

to give all 10 billion people expected to live on the planet in 2050 the level of energy prosperity we in the developed world are used to, a continuous average use of power of 6 kilowatts per person as is typical in europe, we would need to generate 60 terawatts as a planet—the equivalent of 900 million barrels of oil per day.

in view of the enormous amount of deuterium available, it is important that we learn to use the d-d fusion reaction in the long term, and thorium ignited pacer fusion is the most practical form of fusion today that is capable of economically supplying large gigawatt levels of power safely without requiring decades of additional development.

the time since the earth first formed = 4.54 billion years.
the time until the sun burns out = 5 billion years.

the deuterium in the sea is capable of completely powering planet earth at a level of 60 terawatts for 8.33 billion years (longer than the earth has existed or the sun will burn).

http://www.yottawatts.net

positive change should include changing america’s nuclear fuel cycle to thorium – we cannot continue to improve the condition of people throughout the word without use of nuclear power. none of the renewable energy solutions can be scaled quickly enough to meet current and future energy needs. alternative energy solutions are energy experiments for the wealthy developed world that are just too expensive for the requirements of the developing world. safer, proliferation resistant, nuclear power without the long term high level waste storage problems is needed to power a growing world economy and to allow all nations to provide for and feed their growing populations in peace. these goals are available by changing the nuclear fuel cycle to a uranium-233/thorium fuel cycle.
http://bit.ly/bxfn93

originally, cold fusion was the term given to the energy effect announced by electrochemistry professors’ stanley pons and martin fleischmann in 1989. this phenomenon produced energies unable to be explained by the conventional electro-chemical processes, but by fusion reactions.

conventional theories of fusion reactions dictate that they occur only under conditions of extreme heat and pressure, like inside of our sun and the stars. the pons and fleischmann effect was produced inside a beaker on a table top at room temperature.

their original experiment used two electrodes of palladium and platinum immersed in heavy water, a type of water containing deuterium and an isotope of hydrogen found in sea-water. when a small current was applied to the electrodes, more heat energy was created than electrical energy put in. thus the designation of a source of energy.

after the initial announcement in 1989, controversy ensued when some scientists could not reproduce the results. that, together with the fact that the effect did not fit in to conventional theory, led many scientists to disregard the phenomenon. however, some scientists did reproduce the effect. it is these scientists who have continued to refine this process over the past twenty years, determining the conditions for success with astounding results.

as of 2009, some labs are producing tens of megawatts from 0.3 grams of palladium. energy output currently ranges from 10-25 times the energy input. not half bad!

now, the term cold fusion is being used to describe a number of low-temperature nuclear reactions, including variations on the pons-fleischmann design, any of which have the possibility to be earth’s dominant energy source for the future – clean and plentiful, with no radioactive waste.
renewed attention to alternative energies due to the many crises rooted in burning hydrocarbons is finally increasing the financial support for this research.
if funding for this technology increased, within the time it takes to build a nuclear power plant in the us, approximately 8-10 years, we could possibly have a safe, clean, plentiful energy source to power the future.

to learn more about what cold fusion is, watch the cbs 60 minutes piece (12 mins) on cold fusion: more thank junk science linked from the top of the page. hope is on the way!
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from the article 2001: the coming age of hydrogen power arthur c. clarke wrote “…yet for five years, washington didn’t believe that the wright brothers had actually flown— because everybody knew it was impossible: leading scientists were still writing papers proving it couldn’t be done. not until the wrights went to france and started giving public demonstrations did the boys in the war department say, “my goodness, these things really can fly. perhaps they may even be useful for reconnaissance. we’d better look into it.” and they did— five years late. well, history has just repeated itself, with what’s been (perhaps inaccurately) named “cold fusion…” “
infinite-energy magazine issue #22 1998

read the comparison between the wright brothers development of the airplane and cold fusion science from jed rothwell’s piece entitled the wright brothers and cold fusion first published in infinite-energy magazine issue #9 1996.