fusion energy foundation

figure shows that the world populationhas constantly been increasing itsrate of energy use by inventing new,more efficient types of energy. Thesenew energy sources provide the basisfor further growth by discovery andapplication of even more advancedenergy technologies. This process oftransformation of energy sources andtheir uses—from solar and biomass towood, then coal, oil, and now fissionand fusion—also provides the answerto the question: "But how much energyis there on earth or in the universe?Will we ever run out?"These questions, put in this way,mean that the questioner is using thewrong set of ideas and facts aboutenergy.If we are stuck in a situation withno new science or technology, thenwe will eventually run out of energy.In this fixed (unchanging) situation,there will be a limit (boundary) to theamount of energy we can get fromthe resources available to us. But ifwe move up to a more advancedsituation where there is a new combinationof science, technology, andresources, then there will be a new,higher limit to the amount of energywe can get. Each new combination ofscience, technology, and resourcesmoves up the limit on energy availablefor the population to use. Thenumber of new situations is itselfwithout limit or infinite.Each new situation in the infinitenumber of situations possible is calleda transfinite in relation to all the othersituations. The importance of lookingat the energy situation in terms of thetransfinite is that it gives us a realmeasure of energy. The full measureof any energy source is in the transfiniteprocess of creating the next,better forms of energy.This measure of energy is so powerfuland accurate that it also takescare of the objection to progress usedby some miseducated people today.This is the argument that rapid growthor development creates a lot of waste.The technical name for this waste isentropy, a quantity related to the creationof unusable forms of energy(like friction heat).This argument is not even usuallytrue, since more advanced energytechnologies (usually at higher temperatures)can be fit together withindustrial processes to reduce wasteand increase efficiency. One exampleis the use of heat from nuclear plantsto desalinate (take the salt out of)water or make fertilizer. But even ifsome energy must be "wasted," thatis not important compared to the processof development of new energysources. What is crucial is the growingamount of extra energy available todrive the process of development. Wecall this extra energy free energy. Thepercentage of free energy availablehas been increasing as new, more efficientenergy technologies—like nuclearfission—have been developed.At each stage of history, it may beuseful to do the simple type of countingof the energy used, created, andlost. But in each new situation the oldnumbers cannot be added up continuouslyand carried forward. In someways this situation can be comparedto running partway around a circularrace track suddenly to find that thetrack has turned into a more complicatedsurface like a sphere (globe). Just asyou would need a new set of measurementsto measure your path onthe sphere, so we need new measurementsfor the productivity of energyevery time there is an importantchange in energy and other technology.New TechnologiesAs long as science and progressexist, energy is not restricted by theso-called laws of conservation or entropy.These laws just provide a convenientmeans of counting duringeach stage of technology. Our realneed, however, is the developmentand widescale use of new forms ofenergy, like nuclear fission and fusiontoday. These are the new technologiesthe youth of today will be improvingand using in the future. Evenmore exciting, today's youth will bediscovering new types of energy onearth and in space that have barelyyet been thought of. We will be describingthem for you in future columns.—Dr. Morris LevittBooks ReceivedMcGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of EnvironmentalScience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. 858 pp., $34.50.To Choose a Future. Ronald Q. Ridkerand William D. Watson. Baltimore: JohnsHopkins University Press, 1980. 410 pp.,$33.50.The Development of the U.S. UrbanSystem. Edgar S. Dunn, Jr. Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.192 pp., $65.The New Tyranny: How Nuclear PowerEnslaves Us. Robert Jungk. Binghamton.N.Y.: Grosset and Dunlap, Inc., 1980.200 pp., $10.Robert Oppenheimer: Letters andRecollections, ed. Alice Kimball Smithand Charles Weiner. Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1980. 376 pp.,$20.Morality In Medicine. Richard Warner.Sherman Oaks, Calif.: Alfred PublishingCompany, 1980. 137 pp., $7.95.McGraw-Hill Modern Scientists andEngineers, ed. McGraw-Hill EncyclopediaScience and Technology staff. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1980.1,420 pp., $110.World Guide to Battery-poweredRoad Transportation. J.M. Christianand G.G. Reibsamen. New York: Mc­Graw-Hill, 1980. 392 pp., $49.50.Process Heat Exchange. Chemical EngineeringMagazine. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. 488 pp., $34.50.The Many Faces of Suicide, ed. NormanL. Farberow. New York: McGraw-Hill,1980. 446 pp., $18.95.The Quick Knife: Unnecessary SurgeryUSA. Duane F. Stroman. New York: KennikatPress Corp., 1980. 178 pp., $12.50.Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered.ed. V. Kerry Smith, Baltimore: JohnsHopkins University Press, 1979. 290 pp.,$6.95.The Management of Schisosomiasis.Patricia L. Rosenfield. Washington, D.C.:Resources for the Future, 1979. 136 pp.,$6.75.Manufacturing Processes. Herbert W.Yankee. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1979.740 pp., $23.95.Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries.Marvin Greenberg. San Francisco:W.H. Freeman and Company, 1980. 400pp., $18.The Big Bang. Joseph Silk. San Francisco:W.H. Freeman and Company,1979. 394 pp., $18.Continued on page 80September 1980 FUSION 79