U.S. HAS BREAKTHROUGH GENERATING CLEAN POWER

December 13, 2022

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have had a breakthrough in the advancement of generating renewable energy after decades of study. A statement was released and a press conference was also held announcing the milestone.

The DOE advised that "the first controlled fusion experiment" was conducted earlier in December and the results were groundbreaking. The tests revealed that, for the first time in history, they were able to produce "more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it." These results were vital in the vision to create clean energy in line with President's Biden "net-zero carbon economy."

The White House released a statement affirming it's involvement in fighting climate change and reasserting it's position in the Paris Agreement. The U.S. government has a goal to cut 50% of emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.

Clean energy (or renewable energy) is generated from natural sources such as water, solar, wind and liquid biofuels. This energy can be used in many facets of life including electricity, heat and transportation with less detrimental effects to the environment as more traditional sources.

Fusion energy has been explained by the DOE as follows:

"Fusion occurs when two nuclei combine to form a new nucleus. This process occurs in our Sun and other stars. Creating conditions for fusion on Earth involves generating and sustaining a plasma. Plasmas are gases that are so hot that electrons are freed from atomic nuclei. Researchers use electric and magnetic fields to control the resulting collection of ions and electrons because they have electrical charges. At sufficiently high temperatures, ions can overcome repulsive electrostatic forces and fuse together. This process—fusion—releases energy."

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