Clay has a point here. I have mentioned it before. Some whacko stroke of luck, some klutz stumbling over a lab experiment and seeing something new can, at any moment not only see need for earthbound fusion disappear, but also the disturbing vision of a total fission power grid which I forsee, become needless.
You just never know.
We just can't stand around waiting for that klutz to stumble onto power nirvanna or some totally un-expected break through, however. This would be like fiddling while Rome burned.
I would be stunned if solar cells ever really come on line to an extent that significant, distributable power is obtained. We would still be using fusion energy even if it did!
As I have noted here before, it is hard to point at any real power source here on earth that can't be ultimately traced back to the 24-7-365 fusion reactor 93 million miles away.
Richard Hull
Created on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 5:11 PM EDT by Richard Hull