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More than 200 years ago, mankind embarked on the road of industrial development, leading mankind into the era of science and technology. Technology has brought tremendous benefits to human civilization. Not only has the quality of people’s lives improved, but we have also gained a new understanding of the world through technology. In the middle of the last century, we stepped out of the earth and began to explore the universe. .
If technology wants to achieve rapid development, it cannot do without the help of industry, and if industry wants to proceed quickly, it needs a lot of energy. Energy is the foundation of industrial development and the source of scientific and technological progress. Without energy, all scientific theories can only be on paper and cannot be realized in reality.
Since humans entered the age of technology, they have been using fossil energy. These fossil energy sources were not created by humans, but were nurtured by Mother Earth over a long period of time and left to mankind. This is a gift and help from Mother Earth to mankind. Human beings grow up as soon as possible.
Petroleum, coal, natural gas and other fossil energy sources are all non-renewable resources, and they will be less used if they are used. Human life and technological development consume these fossil fuels on the earth all the time, and all aspects of human life are inseparable from these fossil fuels. Take petroleum as an example, it is the bloodline of human industry.
Perhaps many people’s understanding of petroleum applications is limited to diesel, gasoline, etc. In fact, petroleum is widely used. If you know something, you will find that many things in our daily lives are related to petroleum. Therefore, once the oil is exhausted, it will have a great impact on mankind.
The entire human science and technology civilization is closely linked to these fossil energy sources. Once they are exhausted and there is no alternative energy source, then mankind will retreat from the science and technology civilization to the primitive civilization. We have no doubt about this. It is precisely because human beings are too dependent on fossil energy that the crisis of energy depletion is approaching humanity step by step.
Scientists have naturally seen the energy crisis that mankind is facing, so they have been actively researching and exploring alternative energy sources, hoping that after hundreds of years of consumption of fossil energy, human science and technology can continue to advance without going backwards. So what kind of energy can replace fossil energy? In fact, on the earth, in addition to fossil energy, there are many natural energy sources that we can use, such as wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy, etc.
The power of nature is infinite. I believe that my friends all agree very much. For example, wind energy and solar energy are all powerful natural forces. If they can be used effectively, solving the energy crisis of mankind will no longer be a problem. It’s just that it is not easy to make full use of these two energy sources.
To maximize the power of wind and solar energy, it is mainly the conversion rate of energy. Our current use of wind energy is mainly for power generation. However, we rely on wind energy to generate electricity. The current efficiency is very low, far inferior. Thermal power generation.
Solar energy is a more efficient and pollution-free clean energy. We all know that the energy used by human beings and the creatures on the earth comes from the sun. Even fossil energy such as oil, coal, natural gas, etc., are essentially derived from Solar energy. Plants capture solar energy through photosynthesis and convert it into organic matter for storage. Other animals eat these organic matter to consume the stored energy.
The origin of solar energy is naturally the stellar sun in the center of the solar system. It continuously consumes hydrogen through internal nuclear fusion and releases huge energy that spreads to all directions of the solar system. Only a small part of the radiant energy emitted by the sun reaches the earth, even a small part is a huge energy, far stronger than the energy of fossil fuels.
We all know that solar energy is a powerful and pollution-free energy source, but because human technology is still relatively backward, although there are certain applications of solar energy, the energy conversion rate is really low, and it cannot meet the energy demand of human development. Therefore, at present and for a long time in the future, human beings mainly rely on fossil energy.
In addition to these powerful natural energy sources such as wind energy and solar energy, there is another powerful energy source that mankind is most looking forward to, and that is nuclear energy. Since the publication of Einstein’s mass-energy equation, people have known that there is a huge amount of energy in the nucleus. This energy can destroy the world and the power is beyond our imagination.
There are two applications of nuclear energy, one is nuclear fission and the other is nuclear fusion. Nuclear fission is currently the main way humans use nuclear energy. For example, nuclear power plants all over the world use nuclear fission. It’s just that nuclear fission is not a clean energy source. On the contrary, it will produce a lot of radiation pollution, which is destined to be unable to be fully applied.
Only nuclear fusion is a stable and clean powerful energy source, and what is happening inside stars is nuclear fusion reaction. Nuclear fusion is a powerful energy source that is most promising to replace fossil energy in the future. Mankind has been exploring and researching controllable nuclear fusion technology since the last century.
However, because nuclear fusion requires very harsh conditions to achieve stable ignition, scientists have worked hard for more than 70 years, and have not made much progress until now. On the road to controllable nuclear fusion, it will take more time. Some scientists believe that it will take another 100 years, while others believe that it may take hundreds of years before mankind has any hope of realizing controllable nuclear fusion.
We don’t know how long the fossil fuels on the earth will last for energy. Is it 100 years or 200 years? If the fossil energy on the earth can only be maintained for another 100 years, that is not good news for mankind. In such a short period of time, the possibility of achieving controllable nuclear fusion is not high. Once fossil fuels are exhausted, we can only apply natural energy such as wind energy and solar energy.
Therefore, to solve the human energy crisis in a short period of time, the main focus must first be on the efficient use of natural energy. If the conversion efficiency of solar energy can achieve a qualitative breakthrough, then it is possible to solve the energy crisis in a hundred years later.
No matter what, the rapid development of human science and technology will not stop. This is the key to the continuation of human civilization. As long as science and technology keep advancing in great strides, human civilization will be able to upgrade faster and become a powerful interstellar civilization, completely free from the shackles of the earth’s energy.