May 24, 2013
- Nuclear fusion is one of the main topics at Nextbigfuture. I have summarized the state of nuclear fusion research before. A notable summary was made three years ago in mid-2010. I believed at the time that there could be multiple successful nuclear fusion project vying for commercial markets by 2018. Progress appears to be going a bit more slowly than previously hoped, but there are several...
- A new generation of 10 tesla uperconductors could make Tokamak style nuclear fusion reactors work. It could make them affordable, smaller, maintainable and remove the plasma problems. The development time could be greatly reduced from 50 years to 10 to 20 years. A new design would also switch to FLIBE molten salt for lower costs.
The overnight cost of a fission power plant is ~ $4/W ($2/W for China).
• First of...
May 23, 2013
- There is a 19 page presentation from 2012 that updates the progress of General Fusion
General Fusion is trying to make affordable fusion power a reality.
• Founded in 2002, based in Vancouver, Canada
• Plan to demonstrate proof of physics DD equivalent “net gain” in 2013
• Plan to demonstrate the first fusion system capable of “net gain” 3 years after proof
• Validated by leading experts in fusion... - Tesla Motors announced that it has paid off the entire loan awarded to the company by the Department of Energy in 2010. In addition to payments made in 2012 and Q1 2013, today’s wire of almost half a billion dollars ($451.8M) repays the full loan facility with interest. Following this payment, Tesla will be the only American car company to have fully repaid the...
May 22, 2013
- EU leaders, desperate to give economic growth a boost, are talking about targeting energy policy. They are concerned a US-led revolution in shale oil and gas development will reshape the global economy and leave Europe far behind.
* energy costs remain high in the EU
* Europe paid one billion euros a day for its energy imports in 2012
* Europe risks becoming the...
May 21, 2013
- Fuel cell maker Bloom Energy has raised $130 million in new venture capital funding in May 2013 Bloom now has raised more than $1.1 billion in venture capital funding, including past investments from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, Advanced Equities, DAG Ventures and Goldman Sachs.
The company had become gross margin positive (on a pro forma basis),... - Jed Rothwell gives a positive review of the Hot Cat third party test paper
These people think and write like engineers rather than scientists. That is a complement coming from me [Jed].
In every instance, their assumptions are conservative. Where... - Industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi said that some of the country’s idled nuclear reactors might resume operations this autumn at the earliest after undergoing a new safety assessment process.
To restart idled reactors, it is necessary to obtain understanding of host local communities. In this regard, Motegi said the government will make... - Rossi had a third party investigation of his hot ecat. They should have done flow calorimetry, but the tests they did show interesting results.
There are rumors on the internet that Ampenergo (Rossi related company) has raised a lot of money. This fact fits with both the fraud conspiracy and the real deal theories.
Looking at what might be at work if it is the real deal
... - Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, Calif., received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000 for the invention of a tiny energy-storage device that will enable cellphones to charge in 20 seconds.
Eesha's invention also has potential applications for car batteries.
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