Looking into: The next energy supplier

Everyone has climate change in their minds, and we know that we can't stay with fossil fuels for ever. We need a change to something cleaner, more efficient and dare I say... plentiful? We're not talking about wind or water, we're talking something out of this world, 356,334 kilometers away in fact. Our next leading source of viable fuel alternatives, may come from our very own moon. Helium 3 (He-3). There is a vast amount of this resource on the moon. So much, in fact, that it could satisfy earth's energy need for hundreds of years. The process of extracting helium 3 is not too unsafe either. There is no radiation, like in conventioal nuclear fusion, and can be safely contained in a reactor. 1kg of helium 3, provides more energy than 10,000 tons of fossil fuels. On earth, helium 3 is quite scarce, with pretty much the only reserves being found in decomissioned nuclear warheads. Due to the moon's lack of atmosphere, the solar winds have left large deposits of helium 3 on the surface, especially in the poalr region. By the year 2020, Russia may consider extracting the resource from the moon if funding can be found.

Looking into: Space Elevators

Have you ever thought about going into space? Well a new technology known as carbon nanotubes has permitted the exploration of space elevators. These tubes are lightweight, and a very strong material. The only problem is, it would be very difficult and not economically feasable to build a 35,000km tube into outerspace. Due to high amounts of radiation in space, it would be too dangerous for people to be sent up in a space elevator, but would be fine for most cargo. There have been competitions held to see who comes up with the greatest design for a space elevators with cash rewards of many thousands of dollars. The elevator would most likely be powered by a high energy laser, which would be located on the ground and would charge a solar panel, thereby propelling it up. This laser would also be a problem though because so far there isn't enough technology to build a laser that strong. The base of the elevator would be located out in the ocean, as to avoid some environmental issues. Of course there are other issues such as the danger of asteroids hitting the elevator, or the collapse of the structure, but as the plans for a space elevator develop, some of the flaws may be overcome. Due to the recent discovery of carbon nanotubes, there has been a more in depth look at space elevators.