Fusion energy is often treated as a running joke in discussions of climate change and energy, failing to deliver after decades of research. But scientists say fusion has never been treated as a priority and with some recent advances, they say we’re closer than ever to getting more out of it than we put in.
This is the companion article to the fusion episode of the Unexplainable podcast.
It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has not one plan, but several, devoted to fighting climate change. But what’s interesting is that she doesn’t treat it primarily as an environmental issue. Rather, her proposals so far tackle it as a public lands issue, a national security concern, and as an opportunity for economic development. And according to Warren, the root cause of the problem is corruption.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry has avoided generating much controversy on the job so far, but he's been spending a lot of time on the road. He's visited several national laboratories and energy research sites while avoiding controversial topics like proposed budget cuts for his department or climate change.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said that Clinton and Trump should address climate change in their next debate. However, he said the presidential candidates shouldn't merely debate the problem but the solutions they are willing to deploy.
One of the big discussions in clean energy right now is whether we should run with the technologies we have now or focus on developing better ones. For an urgent problem like climate change, several prominent investors say they would like to fund research that could one day yield a breakthrough instead of deploying the wind turbines and solar panels already on the market.
Climate scientists who ostensibly agree on the scale and scope of climate change are at odds over the best solution to the problem. In particular, several scientists have adamantly debated the role of nuclear energy and renewable energy.
I put together a three-part series on this issue, looking at the case for nuclear energy, profiling a scientist who says we can save the world with just renewables, and examining why the debate has become so heated.
A cooling tower at the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant in Missouri
Germany is rolling back its vaunted feed-in tariff for renewable energy as the country sets records for solar and wind power generation. Legislators say that the policy has grown too expensive and now are developing other models to encourage renewable energy deployment.
A wind turbine in Saerbeck, Germany