Quote:
Originally Posted by Jens
Actually, in a sense we do have a free energy source already, for at least the next few billion years. We have this huge fusion reactor, which requires no work at all on our part, sending out a phenomenal amount of radiation in our direction day in and day out. We already harness it to some extent, but simply using that energy more effectively will probably give us essentially unlimited power if we want it. For example, building solar panels in space and beaming the energy down to the earth. There may be technical difficulties, but it's by far a more realistic solution than doing something like mining hydrogen on Jupiter or trying to find hydrocarbons on asteroids.
|
Yes. And even if the scenario were feasible and fuel was imported to Earth, an equal amont of oxygen would also need to be imported to burn it all. Otherwise we'd end up with all our current O2 tied up in combustion products.
__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort
|