{"id":6810,"date":"2015-02-05T01:51:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T01:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=6810"},"modified":"2015-02-05T01:51:57","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T01:51:57","slug":"helium-3-alternative-energy-the-china-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/helium-3-alternative-energy-the-china-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Helium\u20113, Alternative Energy & The China Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent\u00adly I was inter\u00adviewed by Alter\u00adna\u00adtive Ener\u00adgy eMagazine<\/em> about an issue that plays a part in my most recent mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel, A Truth Stranger Than Fic\u00adtion<\/em><\/a>. The inter\u00adview fol\u00adlows below, or you can read it on AltEnergyMag.com here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is helium\u20113?<\/h1>\n

\"B88-slMIMAEHr9a\"What I\u2019m about to talk about might seem far-fetched. It might seem impos\u00adsi\u00adble. But we need to remem\u00adber that much of what is pos\u00adsi\u00adble today was once con\u00adsid\u00adered impos\u00adsi\u00adble: fire, atom\u00adic ener\u00adgy, and putting peo\u00adple on the moon are just a few exam\u00adples of this.<\/p>\n

First, I want to be clear that I am not a sci\u00aden\u00adtist. I am a nov\u00adel\u00adist with some knowl\u00adedge of chem\u00adistry and the basics of physics, and in doing research for my mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel A Truth Stranger Than Fic\u00adtion<\/em>, I have gained some under\u00adstand\u00ading of this top\u00adic and can explain the basics in layperson\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n

Helium\u20113 is a sta\u00adble iso\u00adtope of the ele\u00adment heli\u00adum, the gas that we put in air\u00adships and bal\u00adloons for chil\u00addren. When I say it\u2019s an iso\u00adtope, this means that it has the same num\u00adber of pro\u00adtons in the nucle\u00adus (2), but it\u2019s miss\u00ading one neu\u00adtron. This miss\u00ading neu\u00adtron means that the nucle\u00adus is com\u00adposed of 2 pro\u00adtons and 1 neu\u00adtron, which makes for an atom\u00adic mass of 3, which is where the name helium\u20113 comes from.<\/p>\n

The impor\u00adtant thing about helium\u20113 is this: It can be used in a nuclear fusion reac\u00adtion (the fus\u00ading, or join\u00ading togeth\u00ader of mat\u00adter) to pro\u00adduce vast quan\u00adti\u00adties of ener\u00adgy. By putting helium\u20113 into a fusion reac\u00adtion with deu\u00adteri\u00adum (heavy hydro\u00adgen) or anoth\u00ader helium\u20113 mol\u00ade\u00adcule, we can gen\u00ader\u00adate incred\u00adi\u00adble pow\u00ader. And because helium\u20113 is not radioac\u00adtive, the fusion process pro\u00adduces no nuclear waste. It also doesn\u2019t pro\u00adduce any of the waste prod\u00aducts asso\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded with fos\u00adsil fuels (e.g., car\u00adbon diox\u00adide) that are con\u00adtribut\u00ading to the green\u00adhouse effect and glob\u00adal warm\u00ading.<\/p>\n

The only prob\u00adlem with helium\u20113 is that it\u2019s extreme\u00adly rare on Earth. But it\u2019s abun\u00addant on the moon because our sun has been emit\u00adting it as a waste prod\u00aduct for bil\u00adlions of years, and it has built up in the moon\u2019s soil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you learn about helium\u20113?<\/h1>\n

I first learned about helium\u20113 about sev\u00aden or eight years ago, when I watched a doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary about it and the moon. I thought about the sub\u00adject for sev\u00ader\u00adal years and did more research on it before writ\u00ading my mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel, in which helium\u20113 is at the heart of the mys\u00adtery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why do you think it is a viable alternative to fossil fuels?<\/h1>\n

There are three rea\u00adsons why I think it\u2019s a viable alter\u00adna\u00adtive. First, this isn\u2019t a pie-in-the-sky the\u00ado\u00adret\u00adi\u00adcal process. The Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Wis\u00adcon\u00adsin-Madi\u00adson has a Fusion Tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy Insti\u00adtute<\/a>, where they have suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly com\u00adbined two mol\u00ade\u00adcules of helium\u20113. Oth\u00ader sci\u00aden\u00adtists have point\u00aded out that fos\u00adsil fuels require a con\u00adver\u00adsion to steam to pro\u00adduce elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty, where over six\u00adty per\u00adcent of the ener\u00adgy is lost in the con\u00adver\u00adsion process. Elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty from helium\u20113 is near\u00adly twice as effi\u00adcient. And it con\u00adtains a lot more poten\u00adtial ener\u00adgy. For exam\u00adple, it would take about 50 mil\u00adlion bar\u00adrels of crude oil to pro\u00adduce the same amount of ener\u00adgy as one ton of helium\u20113.<\/p>\n

\"MOON_Sarang_Station_2_by_GeneralPeer\"<\/a>

A shot from MOON, the movie.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sec\u00adond, the Unit\u00aded States has con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable expe\u00adri\u00adence in manned moon mis\u00adsions, as well as knowl\u00adedge and expe\u00adri\u00adence in estab\u00adlish\u00ading min\u00ading oper\u00ada\u00adtions. If the U.S. gov\u00adern\u00adment and ener\u00adgy and min\u00ading com\u00adpa\u00adnies were to join forces, they would be able to estab\u00adlish a min\u00ading colony on the moon, har\u00advest the helium\u20113 from the soil, and bring it back to Earth.<\/p>\n

Third, once the helium\u20113 is being har\u00advest\u00aded and brought back to Earth, rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly small amounts of it could pow\u00ader the Unit\u00aded States. For exam\u00adple, twen\u00adty-five tons of helium\u20113, about enough to fill a space shut\u00adtle bay, would pow\u00ader the entire Unit\u00aded States for a year. It\u2019s been esti\u00admat\u00aded that there is enough helium\u20113 on the moon to pow\u00ader the entire world for 10,000 years. And again, with no waste prod\u00aducts that would con\u00adtribute to glob\u00adal warm\u00ading.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does the Lockheed Martin claim of a fusion reactor in 5 years have anything to do with helium\u20113?<\/h1>\n

As I under\u00adstand it, no. Lock\u00adheed Martin\u2019s research has been toward cre\u00adat\u00ading a work\u00ading com\u00adpact fusion reac\u00adtor<\/a>, where one reac\u00adtor (which would fit in a pick\u00adup truck) could pow\u00ader a small city of about 80,000 peo\u00adple for a year. But instead of helium\u20113 as the nuclear fuel source, their com\u00adpact reac\u00adtors are being designed to use deu\u00adteri\u00adum and tri\u00adtium, two iso\u00adtopes of the ele\u00adment hydro\u00adgen. By com\u00adbin\u00ading those iso\u00adtopes in a fusion reac\u00adtion, each com\u00adpact reac\u00adtor would pro\u00adduce a lot of ener\u00adgy as well.<\/p>\n

One of the prob\u00adlems they\u2019re appar\u00adent\u00adly hav\u00ading has to do with how small and unsta\u00adble those two iso\u00adtopes are. They\u2019ve been doing things with mir\u00adrors and super mag\u00adnets to try to con\u00adtain the reac\u00adtion, but this need for con\u00adtain\u00adment pro\u00adduces incred\u00adi\u00adble pres\u00adsure. I don\u2019t know how far away they are from hav\u00ading a per\u00adfect\u00aded pro\u00adto\u00adtype. The com\u00adpa\u00adny claims 5 years, but I\u2019ve read in oth\u00ader places that they\u2019re 10 years away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why isn\u2019t there more discussion about helium\u20113?<\/h1>\n
\"newsweek-pdf-miner\"<\/a>

Orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly from NEWSWEEK<\/p><\/div>\n

I think there are two rea\u00adsons why helium\u20113 isn\u2019t dis\u00adcussed more. One, it\u2019s incred\u00adi\u00adbly rare on Earth, and most peo\u00adple believe the idea of get\u00adting helium\u20113 from the moon is just sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion. That it\u2019s \u201cunre\u00adal\u00adis\u00adtic\u201d and would cost too much. Cost too much? One esti\u00admate I\u2019ve read is that it would require a tril\u00adlion-dol\u00adlar ini\u00adtial invest\u00adment to estab\u00adlish a min\u00ading colony on the moon and fusion reac\u00adtors on the Earth. Now, a tril\u00adlion dol\u00adlars sounds like a lot, but not when you con\u00adsid\u00ader that the U.S. nation\u00adal debt is now over $18 tril\u00adlion, much of which came out of the last decade of fight\u00ading two wars: in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The sec\u00adond rea\u00adson I think there isn\u2019t more dis\u00adcus\u00adsion about helium\u20113 has to do with the rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly recent dis\u00adcov\u00adery of the Bakken For\u00adma\u00adtion in North Dako\u00adta, Mon\u00adtana and Cana\u00adda, where tremen\u00addous amounts of oil and nat\u00adur\u00adal gas are being tak\u00aden out of the ground through the con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsial process of frack\u00ading. Back in 2007-08 when I first saw that doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary on helium\u20113 and the moon, the Bakken For\u00adma\u00adtion, if it had been dis\u00adcov\u00adered, was not being talked about yet. Right around the time of the doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary, then-Pres\u00adi\u00addent Bush and NASA announced that we were going back to the moon, and I think helium\u20113 was the rea\u00adson. But by around 2010-11, when oil out\u00adput from the Bakken For\u00adma\u00adtion increased expo\u00adnen\u00adtial\u00adly, talk about helium\u20113 and going back to the moon ceased in the main\u00adstream media and has been iso\u00adlat\u00aded to sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic mag\u00ada\u00adzines and jour\u00adnals.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it feasible to consider mining for helium\u20113 on the moon? Is there any research in that direction?<\/h1>\n

For the rea\u00adsons I men\u00adtioned earlier\u2014our expe\u00adri\u00adence in send\u00ading peo\u00adple to the moon, and in min\u00ading operations\u2014we should con\u00adsid\u00ader the idea of min\u00ading for helium\u20113 on the moon to be fea\u00adsi\u00adble. As far as research in that direc\u00adtion, there is a lot of it. Going back to 2007, the MIT Tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy Review has been pub\u00adlish\u00ading arti\u00adcles about the research var\u00adi\u00adous coun\u00adtries are under\u00adtak\u00ading toward min\u00ading for helium\u20113 on the moon. A Russ\u00adian com\u00adpa\u00adny has claimed that they will build a lunar min\u00ading base camp for about $9 bil\u00adlion with\u00adin 10 years, but no one seems to take them very seri\u00adous\u00adly. And final\u00adly, the Chi\u00adnese are doing more than research\u00ading; they recent\u00adly began send\u00ading up probes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are the implications if the Chinese are able to develop helium\u20113 energy?<\/h1>\n

The impli\u00adca\u00adtions are obvi\u00adous: If the Chi\u00adnese suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly estab\u00adlish a lunar min\u00ading colony and begin pro\u00adduc\u00ading elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty on Earth from helium\u20113 fusion, they will become the most pow\u00ader\u00adful nation on Earth, and could hold that posi\u00adtion for the next 10,000 years\u2014as long as the helium\u20113 sup\u00adply holds out.<\/p>\n

More impor\u00adtant\u00adly, abun\u00addant helium\u20113 ener\u00adgy on Earth would rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adize the entire world econ\u00ado\u00admy. It would spawn a tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy renais\u00adsance, just like the space race of the 1960s did. It would make coun\u00adtries that still use fos\u00adsil fuels pari\u00adahs in the world com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty because of the glob\u00adal warm\u00ading effects.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are they actively working on this in China?  Is anyone in the USA actively working on it?<\/h1>\n

Chi\u00adna is doing more than research into helium\u20113 and estab\u00adlish\u00ading a min\u00ading colony on the moon; they just sent up a probe, which went into orbit around the moon, and is sup\u00adposed to make a soft land\u00ading, pick up some rock sam\u00adples and return to Earth. Their pro\u00adgram calls for anoth\u00ader, more involved moon mis\u00adsion in 2017.<\/p>\n

A few U.S. com\u00adpa\u00adnies, includ\u00ading a Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia-based com\u00adpa\u00adny, Moon Express<\/a>, head\u00aded by a bil\u00adlion\u00adaire named Naveen Jain, are work\u00ading on this as well. Moon Express is aim\u00ading to send the first com\u00admer\u00adcial robot\u00adic space\u00adcraft to the moon this year; in addi\u00adtion to poten\u00adtial\u00adly min\u00ading for helium\u20113, the com\u00adpa\u00adny wants to secure oth\u00ader ele\u00adments rare on Earth. Moon Express recent\u00adly hired Astro\u00adnaut Buzz Aldrin\u2019s son, Andrew, as its pres\u00adi\u00addent, so I think they\u2019re try\u00ading to show their seri\u00adous\u00adness and attract invest\u00adment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What will it take to get people talking about helium\u20113 energy?<\/h1>\n

\"moonbase_800x450\"<\/a>Right now, the low cost of oil is stymieing dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of alter\u00adna\u00adtive ener\u00adgy, so the surest way to get peo\u00adple talk\u00ading about helium\u20113 is for the price of oil to go up. The cost of a gal\u00adlon of gaso\u00adline needs to reach a thresh\u00adold called the \u201cprice sig\u00adnal\u201d (about $5 a gal\u00adlon, it\u2019s believed) before peo\u00adple begin to demand alter\u00adna\u00adtive ener\u00adgy sources.<\/p>\n

But I think the faster and more effec\u00adtive way to get peo\u00adple talk\u00ading about helium\u20113 ener\u00adgy is to sim\u00adply make the point that there is the dan\u00adger that Chi\u00adna could do this ahead of the Unit\u00aded States, which would guar\u00adan\u00adtee they would become the world lead\u00aders of the 21st, 22nd and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly the 23rd cen\u00adturies. If the Unit\u00aded States con\u00adtin\u00adues to be depen\u00addent on fos\u00adsil fuels to pow\u00ader its econ\u00ado\u00admy, the U.S. is going to fol\u00adlow the same decline of oth\u00ader great civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtions in the his\u00adto\u00adry of the world, like the Romans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you think there is enough evidence to attract the attention and investments of entrepreneurs and politicians in the near future?<\/b><\/h1>\n

The evi\u00addence has been strong enough already that it\u2019s attract\u00ading atten\u00adtion and invest\u00adments by the com\u00adpa\u00adnies and nations I men\u00adtioned ear\u00adli\u00ader. But I have to say that I think they\u2019re going about this the wrong way. Every\u00adone is think\u00ading com\u00adpet\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly and nation\u00adal\u00adis\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly\u2014 \u201cWhat\u2019s in this for our com\u00adpa\u00adny, our country?\u201d\u2014when we real\u00adly need to be think\u00ading coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly and glob\u00adal\u00adly: \u201cHow can this ben\u00ade\u00adfit all of us on Earth? How can we all prof\u00adit from this?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent\u00adly I was inter\u00adviewed by Alter\u00adna\u00adtive Ener\u00adgy eMagazine about an issue that plays a part in my most recent mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel, A Truth Stranger Than\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145,30,6,153,11,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-truth-stranger-than-fiction","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-interview","category-qa","category-dakota-stevens-mysteries-series","category-written-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6810"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6823,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6810\/revisions\/6823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}