Could Fusion Energy Power the World by the 2030s?
Worldwide investments into fusion energy have gotten into the billions.
Worldwide investments into fusion energy have amounted to billions. In late 2022, scientists confirmed that more energy can be created than the amount of energy lost in fusion reactions.
WIRED reports recent breakthroughs and research have made fusion energy’s success as a sustainable energy source more likely. WIRED estimates that fusion energy could end up powering the world by the 2030s. While start-ups and news outlets have similar estimations with recent advancements, experts argue.
What is Fusion Energy?
Fusion energy is an innovation that looks to create sustainable energy by recreating thermonuclear fusion reactions occurring within suns and stars. Although fusion energy was known to be theoretical, recent studies and breakthroughs have confirmed fusion energy’s future success for venture capital firms and investors heavily invested around the world.
Because fusion energy has the potential to be more efficient than non-renewable energy sources, it has become the center of attention in sustainable energy. Estimates suggest that a small truck holding the necessary materials for creating fusion energy could harbor the same energy as 2 million metric tons of coal. A metric ton of coal yields 2200 kWh.
As many of the resources for fusion energy are scarce on Earth, private corporations are also exploring how to mine the moon for Helium-3: an isotope that could be used to create fusion energy.
Although recent breakthroughs in fusion energy have only powered appliances for finite amounts of time (if not at all), countries are already funding organizations and companies studying the potential of fusion energy.
As experts push out estimates of fusion energy’s success past the 2050s, some doubt whether it will have an effect on the climate crisis.
“In the 1950s and ’60s, governments poured money into research, hoping for clean, essentially limitless energy here on Earth. Decades later, there is no commercial success to speak of.”
NPR — Regina G. Barber, Geoff Brumfiel, Rachel Carlson, Rebecca Ramirez
Still, investors and governments around the world are hopeful of fusion energy’s success. The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) reports public funding for fusion energy increasing by over 50% in their 2024 Global Fusion Industry Report.
Is fusion energy the option, or should we continue investing in existing sustainable energy sources that have proven successful with technological advancements in the past decade? On the other hand, will new methods of harnessing fusion energy improve in the near future?
Originally published at https://masalamarsala.com, edited June 19, 2024.
