Firstly, we should include all the energy extracted historically, representing the funds spent, and the subsequent global warming, on fusion to date, in the analysis of whether a net energy gain has been made or not. That alone makes fusion nonsensical. Add to this that all the funds needed for future fusion research need to be generated by energy extraction, and the nonsensicality moves to even higher order.
Those funds obviously won't come from non-extracted energy, because the only source of the latter is the sun, which gives it for free.
Hence why fission is useless also, only serving to add to the global temperature rise.
Use of energy extracted from Earth is destruction, conversion of things that were not heat, to heat, therefore increasing the planetary temperature.
Use of energy added to Earth is the opposite, putting the energy from the sun to use as things other than the heat it would have generated if neither we nor nature used it, is creation, reducing planetary temperature. Both we and nature can create, but only by use of the energy of the sun, otherwise we are constantly trying to work against nature, by destroying everything it created, including us in the end.
We have to recognise the effort towards fusion is just bullshit industry, bullshit jobs, and destruction. None of it is needed or even desirable, after we have moved completely to the energy of the sun, except if maybe we might need something like it for future spacecraft, it certainly is not needed before that.
Just think for an instant, the real energy gain, and planetary benefit we would get if / when 34 Billion was thrown at domestic and community hydrogen backed up solar installation - unlimited energy out vs finite money in, over time, given that we would use a little of the money generated by the received energy to maintain and even scale up initial installation.
Further, all excess hydrogen converts directly to fuel which will keep all planes in the air, all cars on the road including both ICE and EVs, all ships in the sea, encouraging even further advanced vehicles including Engineering icons previously lost to profit like Concorde and the Space shuttle, all air and water filtrated and circulated, and even further onto food (See “Solein”), which would relieve our burden on the conventional food chain, allowing that to recover. Again, all this will come with a net negative effect on temperature rise, and zero generation of pollution.
The only reason we don't do this so far, is the fixation of those with wealth, to always be seeking profit from it.
Not so clever since it is costing us, including them, the planet.
