• Question: what is the best way to create electricity efficiently???

    Asked by xxcoombesyxx to Alison, Artem, Caroline, John, Gunther on 14 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Artem Evdokimov

      Artem Evdokimov answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      ‘the best’ is a very strong statement. I don’t think anyone has found the best way, yet. Some ways are cheaper, some ways are more efficient, and some ways generate more power than others. Sunlight is free, for instance – but solar panels aren’t very efficient and they are rather expensive. On the other hand fusion is in theory capable of generating vast amounts of power (think stars!) but we don’t know how to harness it yet, except for blowing things up…

    • Photo: Matt Gunther

      Matt Gunther answered on 14 Jun 2012:

      If we were to take one of the basic definitions of efficiency as (energy output over energy input) then fusion would have to be number one. However, no one has built a commercial nuclear fusion reactor.

      Saying this, the ITER facility, which is being built in Southern France, is a research reactor that is aiming to confine a plasma long enough to generate a fusion reaction. If they’re successful, we could well be on our way to harnessing an almost unlimited source of power. It’s just a shame it won’t work the way Doctor Octopus tried it in “Spiderman 2”!

Comments

  • Photo: Artem

    Artem commented on :

    When these guys were manhandling an active fusion core in the movie, I could not stop laughing. I mean, aright – this is a fictional core, with nothing whatsoever resembling reality. But still – the sheer amount of high energy particles, photons, etc. would not just kill anyone nearby – it would likely liquefy/vaporize everything in the vicinity of the core (in the milliseconds that this thing would exist before taking a couple of city blocks on a violent one-way ride to the fiery oblivion)