Ask HN: What currently impossible things would cheap fusion energy enable?

7 points·keenmaster··8 comments

The return of an upwardly mobile middle class?

I do wonder if the collapse of middle class growth isn't thermodynamic. The countries that have enlarged their middle classes have done so by saying "fuck the environment, we're poor" and burning cheap coal with no scrubbers. It makes the air filthy and fuels climate change, but it is high energy return on energy invested (EROEI).

It's impossible to imagine all the things that would become possible if energy was unlimited, and cheap. We could build a fixed link to the moon, and mine the moon for minerals. The skies are the limit.

The Moon and Earth don't maintain a fixed distance apart, so this wouldn't be possible. The distance varies by as much as ~50 km.

Heating roads to melt snow. Weather control. Desalination for farming use opening up farmland in deserts. Flood deserts with desalinated water and create new rainforests. Increase the spin of earth?

I lived in Winnipeg for twenty-five years and often wished we were at a point where heated roads and sidewalks could be a thing.

For the unaware, you can get heated driveway systems, but they're somewhat expensive upfront compared to paying a neighborhood kid with a shovel.

Fusion energy is very inefficient and I don't see it ever being very cheap. Fission energy could be a good choice for many areas, but the way the energy market works means that stuff like wind will always bid the lowest price to the market.

Faster global warming.

Flying cars

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