4 ms·
> as long as you are willing to throw away waste heat on par with internal combustion engines Here in lies the problem. Waste heat on a powerplant scale is exp
by Gwypaas 4y ago
> as long as you are willing to throw away waste heat on par with internal combustion engines
Here in lies the problem. Waste heat on a powerplant scale is expensive to deal with. Ask any coal plant.
- FiatLuxDave 4y agoThat is true, but it is not the problem. Waste heat hasn't kept coal from being economically competitive. Things like specific power density and simplicity are much more important factors in the cost of most power generation methods. For example, low head water wheels are simple (thus low cost) but have poor specific power (thus high cost per kilowatt). The article posits that fusion will always have worse specific power and be more complex than competing modes of generation. I think it's way too early to be making that prediction. You don't try to raise specific power Trevithick-style while you are still trying to light a candle.
- Gwypaas 4y agoCoal is not competitive anymore. It only gets built in places with lackluster gas infrastructure. https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-levelized-cost-of-storage-and-levelized-cost-of-hydrogen/ https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-...