Gasoline Tractors are they coming Back ?

[Citydude]

"Listened to a guy talk about commercial fusion reactors coming soon. Said they are about the size of a tractor trailer. All thats needed is Lithium and water. has 10 to 1 energy output to input or better. Cheap & easy and it’s coming."


We're not there yet, but today's news flash plus tomorrow's announcement (if it is correct) takes us lot closer.

If correct, it demonstrates that fusion DOES work - and that is probably the biggest milestone in the whole game.

If correct, it will result in an absolute tidal wave of money going into lots of companies and startups working on this. Some of them will get results, some won't, and some will be total scams (so be careful and know who is pitching for your money!)

I think it is too early to say what flavor or flavors of fusion reactors will work. We now know (tentatively) that fusion does work (but stay tuned for the "official" release) using lasers and deuterium.

It may be too early to say if the lithium plus water device works, but rest assured that whoever is working on it will be absolutely delighted by the news, and it will turn on the money faucet for their version - which may or may not work.

There are a number of other systems being developed as well. One is the Tokomak, which uses very strong magnetic fields to guide and channel the super-hot plasma (which would burn right through anything it contacted). Tokomaks are supposed to run continuously, the laser plus deuterium device is pulsed.



"It will devastate the fossil fuels AND the “green energy” junk like solar panels & windmills."

Agreed. Solar and windmills will still have a place in remote areas and similar. Solar takes very little maintenance (wash them off every couple of years), but windmills will probably be a dead issue. Expensive, high maintenance, complicated and nobody wants them around.


"It WILL cause an explosion in EV’s and they will finally be charged without fossil fuels!"

Correct!


"No more transportation of fossil fuels, no more power plants, far fewer rail cars or tankers.
A new world! Hope its true"

We will be seeing soon if this is all going to work out. I sure hope it does, because it will also take care of global warming, which takes care of sea level rise and a host of other problems caused by fossil fuels and carbon emissions.

While a huge amount of work and money has been required to get to this point, if in fact it DOES work, as the man said "You ain't seen nuthin' yet."

There will still be a market for fossil fuels, our tractors, airplanes, ships (although if the fusion plant can be made small enough, ships could be powered that way as well), but it will be nowhere near as vast as the fossil fuel market is today. Coal is done, end of story. OPEC is going to fade away for lack of demand (Break my heart, OK? See my tears?) and if the money faucet for the middle east's oil reserves gets turned off, there are going to be some huge political changes there when the "oil weapon" doesn't work any more.

Whoever gets this right is going to make Musk and Bezos look like paupers.

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

Happy days are here! Until the government steps in to do what they do best.

 

[cqaigy2]

Did I mention no spent fuel rods or waste products? And that the reactors could be as small as a tractor trailer? Even portable?

I get the no fuel rods, but no neutrons created during the process? Apparently if you bombard steel and such, it makes it radioactive and brittle. Maybe i should read the article, it might address that.

 

[Hay Dude]

I get the no fuel rods, but no neutrons created during the process? Apparently if you bombard steel and such, it makes it radioactive and brittle. Maybe i should read the article, it might address that.

It’s way above my pay grade, bro.
Youd have to be “Top Poster of the Month” to know everything

But seriously, it will change to world forever if we can generate electricity for so little cost. It will break people free of poverty. If we do it here in the US first, it will give us several years of a competitive edge. However, i think we have lost our competitive edge and expect that the world will probably develop it all together in a similar time frame. The Chinese steal all our R&D (or it get’s sold out from under us) so there’s that, too.

 

[sunandsand]

A respected member and frequent contributor to these forums has advised me that (and I am paraphrasing slightly) I am absolutely talking through my hat regarding the fusion discussion.

Flattery ;-)

(Well not exactly . . . )

There IS the possibility that I am completely wrong about this. As Yogi Berra once said "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future."

At this moment, yes, a lot of this is speculation, but it is based on trends.

Trend: Technology advances very rapidly, and the rate of advance is increasing. Ten years ago, the "standard" light bulb was a 100 watt incandescent bulb, available everywhere. They're gone - first it was CFLs, which were an interim step, and now it is LEDs - which run cold, are much more efficient so use much less power, and last far longer. We'll see 100 watt incandescent light bulbs on eBay in the antique section.

The prices of solar cells have dropped 90% in just ten years. (I wish the prices of new tractors would follow that trend!)

Finland has some punitive gasoline taxes, other countries are looking at this too. Over half of all the new cars sold in Finland are electric.

It took 75 years to reach 90% market penetration for land line telephones. Cell phones surpassed that in five years - just about *everyone* has a cell phone.

Televisions - 32 inch flat screen color TV on sale at WalMart for fifty dollars - that's transistor radio prices.

Point is that technology, especially electronic technology, advances very, very rapidly.

Internal combustion engines are a mature technology. Tens of thousands of talented engineers have been working on them for over a century, and improvements are going to be incremental, not spectacular. All the "easy" stuff has been done, marginal improvements cost more and more to accomplish.

Electric cars are a much newer technology. Electric cars can be characterized as laptops with wheels. Tesla made the first economically successful electric cars, now all carmakers are jumping on the bandwagon. Ford's electric Mustang is now the second best selling electric car. Ford also has an electric F-150 pickup truck. (Ford, who put America on wheels with the model T, is moving to electric.) Jaguar has electric, Rolls Royce has announced their new electric car, Porsche has an electric supercar, Chevrolet has the Bolt and is about to release an electric Traverse, Cadillac has an electric luxury car, VW has a whole line of cars based on their common electric platform. These companies have tens of thousands of talented engineers working for them.

Trend: More than HALF of the population of the entire world now lives in cities, and more people move to cities every day. Cities are the ideal environment for electric cars - crowded, subject to pollution problems, many trips are short distances.

The "choke points" for electric cars have always been batteries, charging stations and the grid capacity to supply them, and of course cost.

Trend: Batteries are improving, charging stations are popping up, the power companies are installing more capacity daily (Florida Power and Light has some very large solar arrays in service with more coming) and vehicle costs are coming down. Audi has just announced a direct competitor to the Tesla model Y, better handling, better styling, better fit and finish, almost as good range, and ten thousand dollars cheaper. (The words "Audi" and "cheaper" are not usually found in the same sentence.)


If, and that is a big if, the announcement about fusion says "It works", the trend towards electric cars will continue and increase. The trend away from fossil fuels will also continue, because now we have found something better.

It is entirely possible that things will shake out differently, but based on the current trends, the crystal ball says fusion plus electric cars is the future, sell your coal mining stocks NOW and reduce your holdings in oil companies and their support businesses.

Gentlemen, place your bets.

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

 

[sunandsand]

It works.

Nuclear fusion just passed a major milestone: Generating more energy than used to create the reaction

The National Lab and Department of Energy announced a nuclear reaction that generated more energy than was required to power it -- a first for humankind.

www.cnbc.com

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida


(Personally, I really don't care what fuels my tractor or my cars or my airplane - gasoline, diesel, electric, pixie dust - as long as it does the job and doesn't break the bank.)

 

[Hilbilly]

It’s way above my pay grade, bro.
Youd have to be “Top Poster of the Month” to know everything

I almost spewed my coffee all over the computer screen.

Thanks for the laugh.

 

[warrendeere]

"Emissions from diesels are not worse than the emissions from a gas engine, they are just different and more visible."

Here is what the experts say.

"Black carbon particles, found in diesel engine exhaust, are 3,200 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide in the near-term and promote cardiovascular disease and lung cancer."

Cleaning Up Diesel Exhaust Improves Both Health & Climate

A new World Bank study summarizes a menu of technical and policy options already demonstrated to cut the health and climate risks from diesel emissions.

www.worldbank.org

Is Diesel Cleaner than Gasoline and If So, What Makes Diesel Cleaner?

Is diesel cleaner than gasoline would have been an odd question a few years ago. But now, with low sulfur diesel, it is legitimate.

rentar.com

"And, diesel cleaner in terms of the variety of emissions types it produces. Diesel also produces fewer highly-toxic emissions than gasoline. To another important question — is diesel cleaner with respect to the toxic byproducts generated during production, — again, the answer is “yes.”
By almost no measure is gasoline cleaner than gasoline. Gasoline engines produce more carbon dioxide than diesel engines. Gasoline produces far more hydrocarbon emissions both when combusted and over the course of its life-cycle. It produces ultrafine particulate matter because of the octane boosting additives it contains. And, gasoline produces large quantities of carbon monoxide. Diesel produces almost none."
"Diesel, by every measure except nitrogen oxides, is a cleaner fuel than gasoline."
Your argument once again is just dead wrong.

 

[warrendeere]

"Emissions from diesels are not worse than the emissions from a gas engine, they are just different and more visible."

Here is what the experts say.

"Black carbon particles, found in diesel engine exhaust, are 3,200 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide in the near-term and promote cardiovascular disease and lung cancer."

Cleaning Up Diesel Exhaust Improves Both Health & Climate

A new World Bank study summarizes a menu of technical and policy options already demonstrated to cut the health and climate risks from diesel emissions.

www.worldbank.org

Plus, your source is 8 years old.

 

[harrydarwen]

gas be much better maintenance wise than diesel since the catalytic converters would be fire starters along with all the sensors on new gas engines.

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[MHarryE]

Back in early 60’s Deere introduced 4020 and IH 806 in gas and diesel versions, both naturally aspirated. Hard to find gassers at auctions. They just weren’t up to the capabilities of the diesels - except for cold weather starts. I found an old 806 gas on dealer’s used lot last year and was tempted to pull the trigger on it but it would only be useful in temps below zero. The gassers are such dogs when it comes to field work.