Currently, the European Union obtains most of it energy from outside the union, the energy which comprises of oil and gas is estimated to be more than 50% of the country’s energy supply. The union’s annual energy bill totals to 240 billion Euros. It is also estimated that EU spends 500 billion euros annually on more than 1725 million tonnes of oil. Yet, this is projected to grow to 1900 million tonnes by 2015.
Political instability and geographical remoteness are some of the characteristics of the regions that supply the EU with energy. The dependency of the EU on imported energy is expected to rise to 70% by 2030 going by the current trends.
With the growing economies and the increase in the living standards of people in some countries, for instance, in China and India, it is anticipated that in the next 50 years the global demand of energy will double. Therefore, establishment of a sustainable and safe energy supply for a world that heavily depends on energy is prudent.
Developing of sustainable energy sources is a priority in Europe. Statics indicate that 82% of the Europeans are not contented with how they use and produce energy and how it affects the environment. Besides, almost half of them calls for quick action as they believe that climate change could be catastrophic. In the near future, Majority of the Europeans believes that investment into alternative sustainable energy by the EU will reduce its dependency on energy by a great margin.
The following is some of the advantages that make fusion the most convenient and sustainable energy source.
Plenty of raw materials
Water and lithium are the main sources of both deuterium and tritium, which are the basic fusion fuels. There are plenty of deuteriums and lithium on our planet. This is so since the world’s surface is constituted by 70% water and 30% land. Deuterium is easily available on earth, in fact; a liter of water is believed to have 0.033 grams of it, lithium is also available because it’s a component in batteries which we always carry around in cell phones and laptops. It has been proven that the lithium that is contained in a laptop cell if fused with a half bath tub of water it would generate electricity equal to electricity produced by combusting 40 tonnes of coal. Tritium is not naturally mined it’s made from lithium, (the lithium is combined with high –energy neutrons inside the fusion reactor to make tritium)
Environmental friendly, as fusion energy has zero carbon emissions.
For a fusion power plant to generate 7 billion kilowatt-hour annually it only requires 100kg of deuterium and about 3 tonnes of natural lithium. For a coal powered plant to generate the same it would require at least 1.5 million tonnes of coal. Nitrous oxides and carbon oxides are the byproducts of fossil fuels. Global warming is highly contributed by carbon dioxide and the continued use of fossils fuels greatly increase it thus inviting profound effects on the environment. Energy consumption from the EU alone contributes 78% of its total green house gas emissions.
There is a guarantee of safety in the power stations as the chances of a meltdown/runway reaction
occurring are minimal.
The operation of the fusion reactor is the same as that of a gas chamber where all the fuels injected are burnt(at a rate of 1deuterium/tritium in 1000cubic meters of water),the system is designed in a way that any malfunction will cool the plasma and stop the reaction thus a runway is impossible. The construction of a station with no radio-active materials makes the plant significantly safer.
They are minimal radioactive wastes arising from fusion energy. In other words, fusion energy is green energy.
Source: Fusion For Energy