Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to The Downside of Nuclear Fusion?

Where do I begin?

How wrong and ill-informed you are.

Maybe you just didn't do the research before opening your mouth, but let's look at what you said and strip it down, point-by-point.

1) There is a radiocativity problem with fusion reactors - sure, but it's a whole lot less than with fission reactors. Still important, but not a game-stopper

2) Will cheap heat and electric power make it "cheaper to pump oil"?

Well, for a start, the pumping costs of recovering oil are relatively minor, except in late-stage EOR schemes. The world proice of oil won't change much as a result of changes in pumping cost.

3) The inability to run electric or fusion-powered cars will lead to "no reduction in oil consumption". Well, that's a total Furphy. First you need to look at the global consumption of oil (and gas) by sector - i.e. WHERE do we use all that oil?

there are 3 main uses:- Transportation, Heating, and Petrochemical feedstock. I don't have the exact numbers handy, but you could imagine as a starting point that these were very roughly equal.

The BP Statistical Review of World Energy is a good starting point for understanding the sources and destinations of oil, gas, coal and other energy systems. The full data is there.

The document is available here: http://www.bp.com/productlanding.do?categoryId=6842&contentId=7021390
html link, if we're lucky!

Liquid hydrocarbons make excellent vehicle fuel, due to ther high energy density and the mature technoilogy for handling, delivering, and burning that fuel.

Liquid hydrocarbons are irreplacable as petrochemical feedstock

But burning the stuff to keep warm in the winter? That's crazy. FUsion-derived heap heat and electricity would displace large parts of the heating uses of petroleum. Of course, it will take a long time to retrofit a large proportion of the domestic and industrial oil-burning furnaces, but if electric heating were cheaply available, every consumer would have the hip-pocket incentive to convert.

If you took that segment of the oil demand out, or just reduced it significantly, the price of oil would slump rapidly due to oversupply (as happened in the 1990's with less than 10% oversupply in the market).

With less demand, oil prices would drop. I'd be out of a job again, and vehicle fuel and petrochemical feedstock would become a little cheaper, benefitting all consumers.

Where's the problem here?

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