Clean energy has not only become a common desire of many, it’s also become an essential for our civilization’s future. Science has never ‘had it easy’, despite its portrayal in some quarters. Has Canada, yet again, become an epicentre of progress in the race against time to replace fossil fuels with a viable clean energy solution?
The struggle for the truth continues to turn fiction into fact, as we continue to find a viable path forward on a planet, which desperately needs our understanding. Despite malicious and scaled disruption of public discourse in western democracies, our scientific commitment towards clean energy has made an impressive breakthrough.
Clean Energy Meets Fertile Imagination
Thinkers throughout the ages have re-imaged reality, the cosmos, and the world we live in. This fertile ground of innovation and dynamic thinking is best noted in science fiction writing and scientific breakthroughs. A Canadian company, General Fusion, has made an impressive breakthrough towards clean energy using sustainable nuclear fusion. I wonder what inspired them?
From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows, available at your favorite digital bookstore
As dynamic thinkers, they saw the big in the small. The scientific concepts of quantum physics date back to the late nineteenth century. Yet, we are only seeing the most exciting breakthroughs in our time. Science fiction, through decades of doubt, never relented in its mission to inspire progress. Once dismissed as folly, the world of quantum physics now provides a crucial link between humanity and a clean energy future.
Clean Energy Progress Meets Reality
The scaled world of the energy industry has resisted such progress in the past. Only now, when our world reels under the weight of fossil fuels and energy missteps, we seek a better solution. As humanity expands, our base infrastructure needs to grow, yet we need to find sustainability in that growth. That is the lesson delivered by prior generations.
While industry monitors science closely, so do we. This breakthrough is from General Fusion, a Canadian company. This shows us that a balance between science and industry can truly be possible. With the backing of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), General Fusion moves forward toward clean commercial energy production using nuclear fusion.
Turning Nuclear Clean
Nuclear missteps on Chernobyl, and Fukushima, have made a poor impression on society for good reason. The stepping stones with these lessons learned, along with new lessons foreseen from a structured scientific approach, make the current development journey safer.
General Fusion’s ability to generate over six hundred million neutrons per second, and channel them into a compressed state, where nuclear fusion can occur, is remarkable. This breakthrough sets a platform for expansion to a scaled-up demonstration via their LM26 project.
The stability of plasma-based interactions without the use of high-powered magnets, along with the novel use of hardware, makes clean energy a possibility in our lifetime. A plasma-based approach, inspired thinking, and novel hardware could replace continuous nuclear powered reactions with a start-stop form of clean (nuclear) energy production.
Viability Versus Sustainability
The concept of profit over people, science, and sometimes governments has led to some costly mistakes. As affected as we are by it, learning from it can be a just compensation. What is viable must never degrade its sustainability. If past mistakes can power future failures, then equally true is imagination inspiring insightful solutions.
Science fiction explores a kernel fact that our universe is more than just there. It has secrets we can use to solve our greatest problems. We do not need to construct it. What we need is to understand it and apply it to a successful outcome. As we move forward under the shadow of necessity, we must decide if our greatest breakthroughs reflect humanity’s greatest steps. Would be great if they did, but only time will tell.
About the Author
As I move onto my next authoring project, I will post less frequently on the real-world issues linked to my novel, From Terror to Valor: Echoes and Shadows. My next project, Hindsight Station, will be a progression science-fiction webnovel, delivered via Patreon and eventually Royal Road.
John is a versatile author known for his gripping fiction narratives in the thriller, action, and sci-fi genres. With a background as a journalist since 2016, and expertise in cloud technologies as an engineer; John brings a unique blend of storytelling prowess and technical acumen to his work.
