Polywell Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion can release vast amounts of carbon-free energy from very small amounts of matter. For example, just two teaspoons of the element boron, reacting with hydrogen, in a p-B11 fusion reaction, can release enough energy to fly an F-16 fighter-bomber to the moon!
The p-B11 reaction responsible for this amazing feat is shown below. A hydrogen nucleus (a proton) smashes violently into a boron nucleus. Now that it has an extra proton, the boron nucleus becomes unstable and it breaks up into three multi MILLION electron volt helium nuclei (aka alpha particles). The useful energy is extracted from these high energy particles.
One device that is capable of violently smashing boron nuclei with protons is a polywell reactor. The US Navy is funding the use of such a polywell for fusion research at a low budget, low profile site in Southern California.
The hydrogen in the p-B11 reaction is the ordinary hydrogen from H2O and the boron is from Borax (soap). They produce a nuclear reaction with NO unsafe radiation. The only product is Helium (as in a child’s balloon).
A commercial p-B11 polywell reactor will probably produce about 100 megawatts of DEPENDABLE power (enough for all the energy needs of Port Angeles, Washington) at a cost of about $220 million dollars.
In contrast, because wind is so undependable, many wind turbines would be required at many different locations to make the same amount of power: thus 100 megawatts of DEPENDABLE commercial wind power would cost more than a billion dollars!
For similar reasons (day and night, cloudy weather, non-optimum angles of the sun) solar would require considerable back-up power and over-engineering, making the cost of 100 megawatts of DEPENDABLE solar power more than $675 million.
Thus p-B11 nuclear fusion from polywells may well prove to be civilization's most cost-effective source of safe, carbon-free energy. Every effort should be made to properly fund and develop this essential source of energy.