New solar panel info

[--Pete]

Hi,

The main problem as far as I understand is indeed confining the plasma.......it is very very hot...

Yes, it is hot. And the escaping protons have pretty high energies. Thus they are easily embedded into the materials of the confinement facility. The resulting hydrogen enbrittlement can cause failure and puts a limit (short) on the lifespan of a fusion reactor. So, even if the primary problem of generating and controlling a sustainable fusion reaction is solved, there still remains an assortment of secondary problems before fusion becomes fully viable as an energy source.

The chance of getting commercially (very) viable solar cells that could give us a nice chunck of our energy needs in and around the house is much higher than the chance of getting a working fusion reactor in the coming 30 years.

Probably, but that's one horse race where I'll not wager.

-Pete