3 ms·

He's swimming in money and connections, why don't he try to solve fusion? Yes, we have ITER going, but it's not really built efficiently: exact same parts are

He's swimming in money and connections, why don't he try to solve fusion? Yes, we have ITER going, but it's not really built efficiently: exact same parts are manufactured on the opposite sides of the world.

evgen 6y ago
Because you do not get to be a billionaire by pissing away all of your money on a fool's errand. Fusion is a black hole of broken promises that will not delivery a single watt of useful energy to consumers in your lifetime and additional funding from Gates won't change this. Fission works. Fission delivers today. Fission gets the job done. Making fission cheaper, easier to deploy, and safer will have a much bigger impact than chasing fusion dreams.
- de_watcher 6y ago
  Becoming a billionaire and trying to push the envelope are different activities, although sometimes they align. And as you describe, when a guy catches some important near term thing that nobody sees - that's where he finds billions. But the unreachable areas are sometimes not that unreachable. Look at the space industry companies. If you ignore the flagship ones that popped up in a scale of mere years then moving out in your lifetime looks like a pipe dream too.
  - summerlight 6y ago
    The problem is urgency and we don't have an enough amount of uncertainty budget to chase fusion reactors. The scale of the problem is so huge that even Bill's fortune could be insufficient to make a dent to the problem in a foreseeable future. Yes, it'd be nice if Bill can make it happen but if not, he's going to regret it. I'm pretty sure that Bill already has done the math, concluded that we probably have only less than 10 years and next-gen nuclear fission reactor is the only feasible mid-term technology to fight against climate change.
    - de_watcher 6y ago
      The 'he did the math and then did an obviously impossible thing' is really easy to understand. Otherwise it's just a meh explanation that's based on some predictions mixed with politics.
sien 6y ago
He is. Gates has invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems. https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Bill-Gates-And-Big-Oil-Are-Chasing-The-Nuclear-Fusion-Dream.html https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Bill-G... Geoff Bezos has as well. As do Y Combinator. There has been quite a growth in private Fusion funding in the past few years: https://www.cleantech.com/fusion-energy-innovation-accelerated-progress-in-2020/ https://www.cleantech.com/fusion-energy-innovation-accelerat...
- missedthecue 6y ago
  Geoff

evgen 6y ago

Because you do not get to be a billionaire by pissing away all of your money on a fool's errand. Fusion is a black hole of broken promises that will not delivery a single watt of useful energy to consumers in your lifetime and additional funding from Gates won't change this. Fission works. Fission delivers today. Fission gets the job done. Making fission cheaper, easier to deploy, and safer will have a much bigger impact than chasing fusion dreams.

de_watcher 6y ago
Becoming a billionaire and trying to push the envelope are different activities, although sometimes they align. And as you describe, when a guy catches some important near term thing that nobody sees - that's where he finds billions. But the unreachable areas are sometimes not that unreachable. Look at the space industry companies. If you ignore the flagship ones that popped up in a scale of mere years then moving out in your lifetime looks like a pipe dream too.
- summerlight 6y ago
  The problem is urgency and we don't have an enough amount of uncertainty budget to chase fusion reactors. The scale of the problem is so huge that even Bill's fortune could be insufficient to make a dent to the problem in a foreseeable future. Yes, it'd be nice if Bill can make it happen but if not, he's going to regret it. I'm pretty sure that Bill already has done the math, concluded that we probably have only less than 10 years and next-gen nuclear fission reactor is the only feasible mid-term technology to fight against climate change.
  - de_watcher 6y ago
    The 'he did the math and then did an obviously impossible thing' is really easy to understand. Otherwise it's just a meh explanation that's based on some predictions mixed with politics.

sien 6y ago

He is. Gates has invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems. https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Bill-Gates-And-Big-Oil-Are-Chasing-The-Nuclear-Fusion-Dream.html https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Bill-G... Geoff Bezos has as well. As do Y Combinator. There has been quite a growth in private Fusion funding in the past few years: https://www.cleantech.com/fusion-energy-innovation-accelerated-progress-in-2020/ https://www.cleantech.com/fusion-energy-innovation-accelerat...

missedthecue 6y ago
Geoff