I read something about how Naval scientists recently rectified the findings on cold fusion and its theoretical possibility of existence.
We must be very mindful of any "super wapon" that will solve all our problems in one go. They simply don't exist.
We know hot fussion is a possibility but even after 50 years of research we have not yet been able to produce a viable concept that uses fusion for large scale energy production. We are still inputting about as much energy as comes out of it.
That is why solar stations and wind turbines are so attractive. They may not be perfect but these technologies have already run their development curves and are ready to be installed NOW and for well understood costs.
It is similar with the electrified go-one^3 ; it may well not be everybodies idea of a hot rod but it will get you to your work over significant distances wearing your normal cloths and be viable for rainy days and slippery roads. Selling millions of 5 kg li-ion battery packs providing 1 hp for a whole hour is possible now. What is not possible is given everyone 500 kg of li-ion technology for 100 hp power plants.
So our best bet is to get the go-one^3 certified for normal roads when fitted with a 1 hp electrical hub motor and have it do 30 mph. Then get large segments of the populace to use this vehicle and allows a much smaller section of the nation (people like karl) to keep using the large trucks. That is untill a viable alternative comes along for them as well. At the bear minimum we will have bought ourselves heaps of time to possible get cold or hot fussion working.
That is the big challenge of the coming decades; convincing the people that much less can be almost as good..
Wouter
