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.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
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