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Let There Be Light: Germans Switch on 'Largest Artificial Sun' (theguardian.com)
German scientists are switching on "the world's largest artificial sun" in the hope that intense light sources can be used to generate climate-friendly fuel. From a report: The Synlight experiment in Julich, about 19 miles west of Cologne, consists 149 souped-up film projector spotlights and produces light about 10,000 times the intensity of natural sunlight on Earth. When all the lamps are swivelled to concentrate light on a single spot, the instrument can generate temperatures of around 3,500C -- around two to three times the temperature of a blast furnace. "If you went in the room when it was switched on, you'd burn directly," said Prof Bernard Hoffschmidt, a research director at the German Aerospace Center, where the experiment is housed in a protective radiation chamber. The aim of the experiment is to come up with the optimal setup for concentrating natural sunlight to power a reaction to produce hydrogen fuel.
"Hey Helmut I bet you can't last longer in there without sunscreen than on that beach in Spain last year." Helmut: "Hold mein bier."
sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
640K ought to be enough for anybody.
optimal setup for concentrating natural sunlight
But it's not. Sunlight is for all intents and purposes collimated due to the extreme distance of its source. While these lamps can be "swivelled (sp?) to concentrate light on a single spot", that will tell you little about the setup applicable for use with sunlight.
Have you heard about mirrors? And mirrors on swivels?
See also Solar power towers
I know this is not fusion, but on that note, If Europe gets fusion to a practical level, it would be a yuuuuge embarrassment to the US, comparable to losing the space race. Plus, Europe will probably charge us for related patents, or at least they should: they shouldered most of the cost while we collectively denied global warming and bowed down to the Oil Gods.
Table-ized A.I.