An interim report has just been published by The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP) and was yesterday presented to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which states that huge technological changes are needed in the world’s production of energy in order to avoid global temperatures rising to above 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 — which is seen by many scientists as a tipping point which could lead to catastrophic and irreversible consequences.
The report, titled “Pathways to Deep Carbonization” recommends that there should be large-scale investment in low-carbon power generation, along with carbon mitigation efforts like carbon capture and storage at traditional power stations. The report recommends that:
“countries and the international community as a whole must undertake a major research, development, demonstration, and diffusion (RDD&D) effort to develop low-carbon technologies and ensure their widespread availability and their affordability.”
A number of non-fossil fuel technologies are mentioned in the report as being key to this low-carbon push — including, “advanced nuclear power technology that sustains public confidence and support.” I don’t expect that the panel were thinking of LENR when they wrote this — but I think it certainly fits the bill.
It seems like we are sitting in a position where, once acknowledged as being valid and viable, LENR technology should quckly rise to the top of the list as people are looking for a safe, clean, efficient source of energy that will not only help meet low carbon emission goals, but also have remarkable economic and societal benefits because of its low cost and high power output.
It’s a strange situation to be aware of something that could provide the answers to problems that people are frantically trying to solve using much more complex and expensive technologies. Perhaps before too long the light will get switched on and the benefits of LENR will become readily apparent and accepted by those who sit on panels like the DDPP, and it will be seen as a real opportunity to help meet the goals they are striving towards.