Net Energy Gain

Energy is foundational to the global economy.  Wars have been waged over it.  Debates about changes to sources have soured many family dinners over the recent years.  When production gets expensive, that acts like a brake on overall output since there are few viable substitutes; a larger share of consumers’ wallets is diverted to keep lights on and cars running.  In short, energy is important, contentious, and acceptable new sources difficult to come by.

Recently according to an announcement from the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Lawrence, CA, a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than used was engineered.  This has been a long-standing holy grail.  Scientists melded two hydrogen isotopes together, resulting in a helium atom and other elementary particles.  Most importantly, it also produced a lot of extra energy.  They aimed 192 laser beams at the hydrogen atoms, creating this fusion reaction, announcing it seems to have released more energy than was used.  But that’s the rub.  This article from the Economist suggests they undercounted the energy required because NIF only referenced the amount of energy which arrived at the reaction’s exact location but not all the power required to produce those laser beams.

While the news is encouraging, we’re not certain the event is some sort of holiday miracle.  It might just be another step toward the clean energy goal.  We are not physicists, but we certainly appreciate the importance of clean energy to our global economy.  While any progress in this direction is constructive, ultimate success seems likely to be decades down the road.