Renewable Energy. David Elliott

if we were to try to use fusion for powering space vehicles, which otherwise will have to continue to use mainly fossil-derived fuels. However, that is all some way off, and major breakthroughs and science fiction-type futures aside, quite apart from having safety and materials irradiation issues, fusion does not seem to offer a solution to the urgent need for non-fossil fuels (Elliott 2019c).

      Looking far ahead is fraught with difficulties, but the prospects for renewables do look much brighter and they are available now, unlike fusion, offering us a way to respond quickly to the climate change threat. Specific technology choices for supply and end-use management will be hard to make, but some sort of general consensus seems to have emerged in the wider picture. It does seem likely that, if we want to go that way, renewables can supply the bulk of global power by around 2050, and also heat and transport fuel, if proper attention is paid to energy saving and demand management. Nevertheless, there are differences in detail and emphasis; there is as yet no one fixed optimal energy future, but rather a series of potential routes forward, with a range of possible technologies being used. In the next chapter, I look at which options have been chosen so far and which have been or might be sidelined.