cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/31427438

Beijing is pouring vast resources into fusion research, while the U.S. wants private industry to lead the way. The winner could reshape civilization.

  • Cybersteel@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    To be fair, most places don’t have unlimited sun in the day let alone at night. Perhaps a tower like structure that exists above the stratosphere might get a 100 percent solar input, so that we would be able to harness the power of the sun, in the palm of our hands.

    • fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk
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      5 days ago

      You don’t necessarily need full sun any more (though it helps). Solar panels are a lot better than they used to be at generating power on cloudy, overcast days. You can even use them in the North of Britain these days. Of course they generate more on both of our sunny days, but they still work on our normal rainy cloudy days too.

      I remember reading about some plan to fill the Sahara desert with solar panels, which would in theory be able to power the whole world, but I imagine there’s a whole lot of politics, profit and greed in the way of something like that ever working (I imagine there’s also a tonne of engineering and environmental considerations).