12. Conclusion

Projection for the demand of energy depends on the growth of population, because the more people there is, the more energy will be used. The current world population of 7 billion is expected to reach 11 billion in 2100. This means if we want to maintain a better or at least the same standard of living, global consumption of energy could double, or perhaps triple, by the end of this century.

With the incorporation of improved safety features and new generation of reactors, nuclear fission will probably continue to make a major contribution to electricity generation. However, its growth could be curtailed by issues of public and political acceptability. Supplies from some renewable sources of energy, such as solar or wind, are not guaranteed either, because they are reliant on weather conditions. Technological challenges for other sources, ocean thermal energy and hydrokinetic energy from rivers, for example, have not yet been fully developed. So, for future energy security, the answer is nuclear fusion.

Advocates acknowledge that fusion technology is likely many decades away. The reason, these systems are intrinsically large, so large that we cannot test the physics and technology of fusion on a lab bench and then mass-produce fusion reactors. Consequently, these large, first-of-a-kind facilities take time to construct.

Despite the enormity of the projects, we have succeeded in creating a short-lived artificial Sun on Earth via experimental fusion reactors. Once commercial fusion reactors become a reality, there will be a paradigm-shifting development in the global energy mix. In particular, our dependence on the rapidly depleting supply of
