Full NY Times article here.

Green Air Filter:

At the National Ignition Facility (NIF), experiments are being conducted that science fiction has only dreamed of. The facility has been under construction since 1997 and is now officially open for business with the banner “Bringing Star Power to Earth” unfurled across the building.

And that is basically what it is trying to do. The NIF has 192 lasers at its disposition all so they can fire into a small piece of hydrogen fuel. The amount of energy that can (theoretically) be produced can rival the the cores of stars.

Despite fusion energy being a great game changer, or even game ender, in the world of alternative energy, many are skeptical about what the NIF is attempting to do. It would take up to 3.5 billion dollars in order for the scientists at the facility to just try to create the fusion energy let alone actually succeeding. In the current economy, it is definitely considered to be a high risk project for the government. So the real question isn’t whether the scientists at NIF can ever achieve fusion energy but rather whether they even deserve the chance to try.

Photo by James.