www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60312633
The fusion announcement is great news but sadly it won’t help in our battle to lessen the effects of climate change.
There’s huge uncertainty about when fusion power will be ready for commercialisation. One estimate suggests maybe 20 years. Then fusion would need to scale up, which would mean a delay of perhaps another few decades.
And here’s the problem: the need for carbon-free energy is urgent – and the government has pledged that all electricity in the UK must be zero emissions by 2035. That means nuclear, renewables and energy storage.
In the words of my colleague Jon Amos: “Fusion is not a solution to get us to 2050 net zero. This is a solution to power society in the second half of this century.”
