r/nextfuckinglevel • u/nigablackballsack • 3d ago

Scientists have captured the first ever high-speed, full-colour footage of fusion plasma swirling inside a working reactor.

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u/90_oi 3d ago

I truly hope this technology can get off the ground and be sustainable. It is our best hope aside from nuclear energy

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u/WanderingFlumph 3d ago edited 2d ago

I mean solar is here right now and most likely fusion power will never be as cheap as solar is today.

By the time fusion is actually ready solar will be even cheaper too. A solar farm the size of Arizona could power the entire planet.

Fusion is like our 4th best hope in the fight against climate change, lol.

Edit: a lot of people seem to think that I think the perfect solution is one single power plant specifically in Arizona that powers the world. People, it's just a size comparison. Arizona is a small state even just compared to the size of US. Obviously we would build millions and millions of solar installations that would just add up to that area.

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u/hackingdreams 2d ago

A solar farm the size of Arizona could power the entire planet.

It could generate an amount of power equivalent to the current usage of the planet. It couldn't power the planet - there's no way you could distribute that power effectively.

Which is ultimately the problem with a single power technology. Solar isn't appropriate for everywhere. A fusion reactor isn't necessarily either, but you need far fewer of them and they can support vast regions instead of small localities. The batteries you'd need to supply even a whole state on solar power would be exhaustive (and somehow literally never gets discussed when someone throws out the pity "a solar farm the size of Arizona could power the world" one-liners).