It's getting hot in here. How an artificial sun might save the planet.

It's getting hot in here!

It really doesn’t feel that long ago that climate change was but a footnote in our consciousness. Nowadays though, most of us appear to be aware of the critical condition our planet finds itself in. Tesla made driving electric cars desirable and challenged traditional car manufacturers to come up with electric alternatives themselves. The Fridays for Future movement pressures governments and its leaders to work towards a greener future, and shopping at your local second-hand or charity store suddenly became cool. 

We are slowly changing the way we think and act but we still have some big challenges ahead of us. With electricity being one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, finding environment-friendly sources of energy is a problem we need to tackle in order to save the planet.

Heating in wintertime? Yes, please. But nuclear power? No, thanks.

So, let’s call a spade a spade: our current options when it comes to energy sources are rather problematic. Nuclear power plants come with both atomic waste and a high risk of fatal reactor disasters, while the energy produced by coal power plants goes hand in hand with high greenhouse gas emission rates. Unfortunately, green energy solutions such as solar and wind power do not currently cover the demand of consumers. Building enough solar panels and wind turbines to meet the needs of our society will take a lot of space, money, and time. What we need is a more powerful green energy source.

Goodbye, atomic fission. Hello, atomic fusion. 

For the past decades we used to rely on nuclear power plants, but several fatal reactor disasters have urged us to rethink this method of energy production. Not only that, a viable solution for the atomic waste problem is still to be found. It has become clear that atomic fission is not sustainable. And I think we can all agree that the alternative – coal power plants – is not a sustainable solution either..

But there is hope. In December 2020, the world saw a huge success in the field of green energy generation. This innovation was achieved by researchers in the southwestern province in Sichuan in China, and to be more precise, in the research reactor “Tokamak HL-2m”, also known as the “artificial sun”. 

Chinese scientists and engineers created an atomic fusion and were able to maintain this condition for a monumental 10 seconds. This may not seem like a long time, but it’s actually a huge achievement for the science world.

How does it work? Within the process, two positively charged atoms that actually repel each other (due to their charge) are fused with the help of an incredible energy expenditure. The required energy for this process is added in the form of heat. This heat is generated by an artificial magnetic field that reaches temperatures above 150 million degrees Celsius. For comparison: the core of the sun has a temperature of “only” about 15 million degrees Celsius. 

Here comes the sun! And we can finally say: it’s all right. 

 How can our environment profit from this find? In a groundbreaking way: an atomic fusion releases such an enormous amount of energy that it is suitable for substituting our conventional energy sources. The Chinese research and engineer team has enabled the world to take a big step towards an efficient and effective climate-friendly energy source. 

Of course, there is still a long way to go and a lot has yet to be done. Nonetheless, it provides hope that we are moving into the right direction and toward a desired future. Just think about it: energy generation without atomic waste and the risk of overheating, thermal runaway, and fatal reactor disasters. And without greenhouse gases, the exploitation of resources and the destruction of nature. The future of energy generation could be as bright as the sun. 

Progress through science is great. Responsible consumer consumption is even better.

 At Starlab, we believe in progress through science. The invention of the artificial sun proves once more that the unthinkable is possible with the help of smart and ambitious people such as scientists, researchers, and engineers. We salute the Chinese team that has achieved this milestone in the generation of clean energy. 

But in the end, each one of us can make a difference. Each one of us can contribute by thinking about our behaviours and reducing our consumption. Let’s drive eco-friendly cars and use our bicycles as much as we can. Let’s eat meat responsibly by reducing our consumption and by declining products from factory farming. Let’s use the train to reach our next holiday destination. And let’s reduce our consumption in general, whenever we can.

We can create a powerful future – together!