this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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We really should stop talking about "net energy gain" and not taking into account ALL the energy that goes into the process, just the initiation.
It's like saying you get net energy gain from pushing a boulder down a hill, not taking into account having to get the boulder up the hill, but just the pushing itself.
Don't get me wrong, it's good news, but misleading.
The objective number will never be net positive. All that energy has been around in some form since the big bang started. Any measure of the energy "we" put in is subjective by definition. That said, I don't think the scientists are trying to spin some bullshit. If you're designing an experiment that measures energy, your starting point must be well defined and precisely measurable or it wouldn't be repeatable. You don't want to muddy up the results worrying about where all the materials and equipment come from. That's the engineering that comes after the science.
I wouldn't say never, but you're right that we should measure the system based on it's output once it starts running. The important thing is to prove that the concept can be net positive. If you can get a long enough life out of it then the manufacturing impacts are negligible