09/08/2022 This week's theme: Hydrogen Fusion **************** You may have heard of Nosterdamus. He lived in the 16th century and supposedly made predictions about the future that came true in the 20th century and even now. Nostradamus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus He used to make his predictions in the form of quatrains such as: "When the litters are overturned by the whirlwind and faces are covered by cloaks, the new republic will be troubled by its people. At this time the reds and the whites will rule wrongly." Which CLEARLY refers to the U.S.A. ("the new republic"), the Civil War ("will be troubled by its people"), the Dakota (Sioux) Indian War (1862) and Lincoln's mass hangings of Native Americans in Mankato, Minnesota ("the reds and the whites will rule wrongly"). (My interpretation - but he was right on! Clear as a bell! :-) Or maybe it actually refers to NOW! The wearing of Covid 19 masks ("and faces are covered by cloaks"), The U.S.A. ("the new republic"), the current political conservative/liberal polarization ("will be troubled by its people"), between red states and blue states ("the reds and the whites will rule wrongly"). WOW! he was only off by one color - white instead of blue! Everything else fits! (My interpretation - but he was mostly right on! Clear as a bell! :-) **************** Anyway, a lot of people don't know this, but my family name was originally "Nosterswezey" and I come from a long line of "seers". We tend to keep things to ourselves though, to avoid scaring the public so much and to avoid all the public accolade. I find that so tiresome sometimes - I really do. But we definitely can see the future - especially after a couple of beers. Okay, sometimes I'm not that clear on what's happening right NOW, but the future, that's easy :-) We never used quatrains though - too much work - we're not that poetically gifted as a family. **************** Anyway, I've noticed that a lot of people these days seem to fall victim to a great deal of pessimism and defeatism. Think of that phrase "Don't let the 'perfect' be the enemy of the 'good'". Some people seem to feel that if something doesn't COMPLETELY solve a problem, it shouldn't be tried AT ALL. I've always been more optimistic than that. “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness”. **************** Anyway, I was recently talking with a friend about electric cars. He thinks they're a total joke and a waste. They don't have much range, the batteries aren't very good. They don't really cut pollution because they still need electricity created by fossil fuels to charge them. The lithium for the batteries needs an enormous amount of energy to mine and manufacture. In short they use more energy than they save. Well ... I pointed out that the first airplanes were pretty crappy too. Compare the original Wright Brothers' Flyer with a modern Boeing 747. The Wright Flyer isn't even a joke. But you have to build the Flyer to get to the 747. Technology says you have to build what you can and evolve it into something better over time. I have no doubt electric cars will get better as experience with them grows. But I have admit I'm not rushing out to buy one anytime soon, either. But that's NOT the REAL issue anyway, not really. **************** It's at this point that I put on my "Nosterswezey" hat, have a couple of beers and tell you what the future is really going to be. And I can sum that all up in just two words: HYDROGEN FUSION. **************** An electical power plant is basically just a great big old fashion steam engine. Coal or diesel oil or natural gas or nuclear fission is used to heat the water into steam which then drives a turbine that drives an electrical generator which is wired over to your house so you can stay up late at night and watch TV with the lights on :-) **************** Hydrogen fusion is different - sort of. You need a great deal of heat to start it going - like the temperature of the sun. Then you use that to fuse pairs of hydrogen atoms together to make helium atoms which creates a LOT more residual heat as a byproduct. The magic of this process is that you get more heat OUT then you had to put IN. You then use that heat in your power plant as before. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, it's not in short supply at all. **************** Hydrogen fusion, as a power source, has been sought after since the 1950s and has always seemed to be "40 years away". Well that's not true any more, they've had breakthroughs in the last several years to work out the remaining engineering problems. So much so that pilot power plants are currently being built today in China, Britain, France, Russia and the U.S. They're expected to be on-line by 2035 - 13 years from now - seems like a long time but remember the 9/11/2001 attack was 21 years ago and that seems like yesterday. **************** The bottom line is they will soon be able to produce almost UNLIMITED electrical power at a price per unit that shrinks away toward zero. People complain about spending $50 or $100 a week to fill their car's gas tank - with this, the equivalent amount of energy will probably cost you a nickel! It's not even a "green" (environmentalist) issue - although hydrogen fusion has no real resulting pollution - it's PURELY economics. Once on line, all other forms of energy will be OBSOLETE. There will be enormous pressure to convert ANYTHING that CAN run on electricity TO run on electricity. I believe this is what is actually behind the recent push to start converting to electrical vehicles - they know what's coming. They still need to build up all the supporting infrastructure to support the electric cars of the future. It will probably take a generation to convert everything over to electricity - so start now. A lot of people hate the government, but actually they've been pretty good over the years at foreseeing the future and guiding our country toward it. Whether it's the Inner State Highway System, NASA/the space program, Radio/Television, the Internet, the list goes on and on. Most of what our government does for us is good. I don't think they get enough credit for that. **************** You don't have to agree with me, but I really do think hydrogen fusion will soon be a MAJOR "game changer" :-) I remember back in the late 1970s there was a news series on PBS called "Fast Forward" which talked about how microprocessors were starting to impact our lives. In one interview, the interviewee said that in 10 years, every home in America would have a computer in it. The interviewer seemed very surprised by that and asked, "surely you don't think everybody needs a computer?" His response was, "I didn't say everybody NEEDED a computer, I just said that everybody will HAVE one." **************** When I was in High School we had a Computer Club - but we didn't have a computer. We had to schedule a field trip to Vocational High School to see the one they had for training Computer Operators. Times change - and are still changing. **************** I like watching reruns of "The Rockford Files" from the mid 1970s. He's always saying, "pull over, I need to use that pay phone". When's the last time you saw a pay phone? No cell phones back then - yet we didn't FEEL like primitives :-) I think we'll soon look back on fossil fuels the same way. Like we do whale oil to light our lanterns. **************** Nuclear Fusion Power (Updated August 2021) https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-fusion-power.aspx Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy (02/09/2022) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60312633 This government lab in Idaho is researching fusion, the ‘holy grail’ of clean energy, as billions pour into the space (05/28/2022) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/28/idaho-national-lab-studies-fusion-safety-tritium-supply-chain.html Nuclear fusion power inches closer to reality (08/26/2022) https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/26/nuclear-fusion-technology-climate-change/ **************** I'll be "seeing" you - in the future! (I hope!) Stay Jazzed! --Tom "NosterSwezey" ...