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Holden_place OP t1_j021pok wrote

Reply to comment by Reviewingremy in Is using the heat to produce steam really the best way to extract energy from fusion and fission? by Holden_place

Thanks for reply. Do you know how much energy is lost? For example, ‘Only about 12%–30% of the energy from the [gasoline] you put in a conventional vehicle is used to move it down the road’.

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mfb- t1_j026zve wrote

Around 1/3 of the heat gets converted to electricity in fission power plants, fusion power plants would be similar.

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Reviewingremy t1_j0228d9 wrote

I don't. But don't forget in both those examples the processes are very different.

A lot of the "waste energy" from gasoline will be in the form of thermal energy. Whereas in a nuclear reactor it's the thermal energy you want.

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Holden_place OP t1_j0249lq wrote

Understood. I was just using that as example as I learn about the fusion breakthrough.

I read that 300 megajoules power 2 megajoules of lasers. I am wondering how much more is lost on the back end.

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