IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v290y2024ics0360544223025446.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Back to the future: Revisiting the perspectives on nuclear fusion and juxtaposition to existing energy sources

Author

Listed:
  • Sadik-Zada, Elkhan Richard
  • Gatto, Andrea
  • Weißnicht, Yannic

Abstract

This article reviews and launches perspectives on the progress of nuclear fusion research and development. To this end, the current state of nuclear fusion technology, the recent breakthroughs in nuclear fusion research occurred in the US, Japan, and China, the role of private companies and investments in nuclear fusion research and development are investigated for both advanced and emerging economies. The survey draws upon academic sources and media contributions from experts in the field of nuclear fusion. While nuclear fusion has reached the break-even point in the generation of nuclear fusion electricity, there are still serious challenges that will obviate the market alignment of nuclear fusion energy until the early 2030s – and more realistically the mid-2050s. Nonetheless, never in history, the level of public support and private engagement for nuclear fusion energy research and development has been as high as now. Furthermore, the study shows that there is a steadily increasing accumulation of scholarly knowledge on nuclear fusion and a broad consensus among the leading experts that nuclear fusion is the “holy grail” of the transition toward a post-resource, and hence, fully circular energy system.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadik-Zada, Elkhan Richard & Gatto, Andrea & Weißnicht, Yannic, 2024. "Back to the future: Revisiting the perspectives on nuclear fusion and juxtaposition to existing energy sources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:290:y:2024:i:c:s0360544223025446
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.129150
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223025446
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.129150?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bilgen, S., 2014. "Structure and environmental impact of global energy consumption," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 890-902.
    2. Robert U. Ayres & Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh & John M. Gowdy, 1998. "Viewpoint: Weak versus Strong Sustainability," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-103/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Sadik-Zada, Elkhan Richard & Gatto, Andrea & Scharfenstein, Manuel, 2023. "Sustainable management of lithium and green hydrogen and long-run perspectives of electromobility," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    4. Nicholas, T.E.G. & Davis, T.P. & Federici, F. & Leland, J. & Patel, B.S. & Vincent, C. & Ward, S.H., 2021. "Re-examining the role of nuclear fusion in a renewables-based energy mix," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Schill, Wolf-Peter, 2020. "Electricity Storage and the Renewable Energy Transition," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 4(10), pages 2059-2064.
    6. Sadik-Zada, Elkhan Richard & Santibanez Gonzalez, Ernesto DR & Gatto, Andrea & Althaus, Tomasz & Quliyev, Fuad, 2023. "Pathways to the hydrogen mobility futures in German public transportation: A scenario analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 384-392.
    7. Ourahou, M. & Ayrir, W. & EL Hassouni, B. & Haddi, A., 2020. "Review on smart grid control and reliability in presence of renewable energies: Challenges and prospects," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 19-31.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claudiu Vasile Kifor & Niculina Alexandra Grigore, 2023. "Circular Economy Approaches for Electrical and Conventional Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-28, April.
    2. repec:voc:wpaper:tech82012 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Ghosh, Sourav & Yadav, Sarita & Devi, Ambika & Thomas, Tiju, 2022. "Techno-economic understanding of Indian energy-storage market: A perspective on green materials-based supercapacitor technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Fan Xiao & Zhi-Hua Hu & Ke-Xin Wang & Pei-Hua Fu, 2015. "Spatial Distribution of Energy Consumption and Carbon Emission of Regional Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Wei Zheng & Patrick Paul Walsh, 2018. "Urbanization, trade openness, and air pollution: a provincial level analysis of China," Working Papers 201818, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    6. Jeroen van den Bergh & John Gowdy, 2000. "Evolutionary Theories in Environmental and Resource Economics: Approaches and Applications," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 17(1), pages 37-57, September.
    7. Romeo Danielis & Mariangela Scorrano & Manuela Masutti & Asees Muhammad Awan & Arsalan Muhammad Khan Niazi, 2024. "Fuel Cell Electric Buses: A Systematic Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Schauf, Magnus & Schwenen, Sebastian, 2023. "System price dynamics for battery storage," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    9. Zhenghao Wang & Yonghui Liu & Zihao Yang & Wanhao Yang, 2021. "Load Frequency Control of Multi-Region Interconnected Power Systems with Wind Power and Electric Vehicles Based on Sliding Mode Control," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.
    10. Jacques, Pierre & Delannoy, Louis & Andrieu, Baptiste & Yilmaz, Devrim & Jeanmart, Hervé & Godin, Antoine, 2023. "Assessing the economic consequences of an energy transition through a biophysical stock-flow consistent model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    11. Dejian Yu & Sun Meng, 2018. "An overview of biomass energy research with bibliometric indicators," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(4), pages 576-590, June.
    12. Adeline Gu'eret & Wolf-Peter Schill & Carlos Gaete-Morales, 2024. "Impacts of electric carsharing on a power sector with variable renewables," Papers 2402.19380, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    13. Zhong, Zhangqi & Jiang, Lei & Zhou, Peng, 2018. "Transnational transfer of carbon emissions embodied in trade: Characteristics and determinants from a spatial perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 858-875.
    14. Stöckl, Fabian & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Zerrahn, Alexander, 2021. "Optimal supply chains and power sector benefits of green hydrogen," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11.
    15. Anvari, Simin & Szlęk, Andrzej & Arteconi, Alessia & Desideri, Umberto & Rosen, Marc A., 2023. "Comparative study of steam injection modes for a proposed biomass-driven cogeneration cycle: Performance improvement and CO2 emission reduction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    16. Woi Sok Oh & Rachata Muneepeerakul, 2019. "How do substitutability and effort asymmetry change resource management in coupled natural-human systems?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    17. Burak Esenboğa & Tuğçe Demirdelen, 2022. "Soft-Switching Smart Transformer Design and Application for Photovoltaic Integrated Smart City Power Distribution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-27, December.
    18. repec:voc:wpaper:tech32012 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Saleh, Layla & Mezher, Toufic, 2021. "Techno-economic analysis of sustainability and externality costs of water desalination production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    20. Combes, Jean-Louis & Delacote, Philippe & Combes Motel, Pascale & Yogo, Thierry Urbain, 2018. "Public spending, credit and natural capital: Does access to capital foster deforestation?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 306-316.
    21. Azam, Muhammad & Khan, Abdul Qayyum & Zaman, Khalid & Ahmad, Mehboob, 2015. "Factors determining energy consumption: Evidence from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1123-1131.
    22. Qian Zhou & Naota Hanasaki & Shinichiro Fujimori & Yoshimitsu Masaki & Yasuaki Hijioka, 2018. "Economic consequences of global climate change and mitigation on future hydropower generation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 77-90, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:290:y:2024:i:c:s0360544223025446. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.