[ClearCase_guy]

I'm not a big fan of government handouts and subsidies, but I tend to make an exception for cold fusion. It seems that this technology has been on the cusp for several years and -- IMO -- offers a lot more potential than wind or solar energy (which have also been on the cusp for years).

The US government has been throwing trillions of dollars at all kinds of things lately. Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion? For one thing, I think it would make the Middle East a far less important place. That's a payoff right there.

[SeeSac]

Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion?

We would be another trillion dollars in debt?

[Durus]

We have enough oil, natural gas, and coal to remove us from foriegn oil dependence. New technology is nice but without the will to use what we have, there is no way anything else would be considered.

[DannyTN]

"The US government has been throwing trillions of dollars at all kinds of things lately. Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion? For one thing, I think it would make the Middle East a far less important place. That's a payoff right there."

I agree. We should be funding warm fusion, cold fusion, and nuclear. Wind shouldn't be funded at all. Biofuels and solar should be funded at the research level only. No supplementation for products that aren't proven to be market viable.

If I were king, I'd ...

• Upgrading the grid, to handle new plants.
• Preparing new power sites that could be used for either nuclear or fusion.
• Be building at least some nuclear plants.
• Have regional sites prepared that could quickly accept small concrete nuclear plants in the event of disasters.
• Fund battery research.
• And fund the design of conversion kits for autos so that as soon as cheap electricity became available, vehicles could be converted.

A focus on lowering energy prices, both electrical and gasoline, would put funds back in consumers prices, lower the costs of food and goods which are dependent on energy prices , and seriously help the economy.

[ml/nj]

Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion?

We so cavalierly throw around a trillion. A trillion is a BIG number.

How many people do you think there are who might be capable of working on such projects? 10,000? If each was given a million dollars for salary and lab expenses, and remember that some of those 10,000 would be working together, that would be ten billion (with a B). A trillion is still a long way off.

ML/NJ

[mlo]

"Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion?"

We'd be out a trillion dollars?

I think being real ought to be a first requirement.

[wendy1946]

There are a half dozen to a dozen things which ought to be on a war footing at this point, and this just adds one more item to the list. The list includes two super new IC engines (angellabs and ecomotors on the web), thorium reactors, supercapacitors, the oil from algae idea, and simply drilling oil available to us.

[CommerceComet]

Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion?

Why waste money in an exotic way when we could waste it building a bunch of windmills?

All joking aside, I'd agree with you to some degree if there seemed to be any solid science supporting cold fusion. Based on comments that my physicist friends have told me, cold fusion is a dream on the order of a perpetual motion machine.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Imagine what would happen if we poured a trillion dollars into cold fusion?

Every one of Obama's buddies would be instant millionaires, and there would be an ACORN office on every street corner. Then we'd have the same results as the Department of Energy - who employs 110,000+ people (gov and contractor), spends around 30 billion annually, and their original charter, 33 years ago, was to get the U.S. off of foreign oil. How's that going?