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=**New Energy**=

Due to global warming and the shrinking supply of fossil fuels scientists have been researching alternative forms of energy in order to cut reliance on these fuels. As most people are aware of many ideas such as solar power, wind power, water power etc. very few are aware of several alternative ideas that have recently begun research in the scientific community. Just two examples of these ideas are the HiPER project and the AVE project. Both of these projects aim to tackle the issue of clean energy in very different and innovative ways.

=HiPER=

HiPER stands for **Hi**gh **P**ower laser **E**nergy **R**esearch facility. It's goal is essentially to recreate the temperatures and pressures of the sun by blasting a hydrogen pellet with numerous lasers all at once, generating a fast ignition approach to nuclear fusion.

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As fully described in the videos above, this innovative project will recreate the fusion that occurs on the sun. This will all take place when a pellet of hydrogen is fired into a reaction chamber, whereupon 192 separate lasers which have been shot, split, amplified and directed towards the pellet, will all converge on the pellet at once. this will compress the fuel to a high density at which point another laser will strike the pellet. This laser will instantly superheat the fuel to temperatures over 100 million degrees Celsius, thus replicating the fusion which occurs at the center of the sun. As they hydrogen nuclei bond, the remaining nuclei will be shot out containing high amounts of energy which will be used to superheat water that will drive a turbine, therefore creating a clean renewable energy source.

As with all new ideas, there is always some question of the safety of the technology. Although the project's website claims that meltdown is impossible and there will be no pollution effects, there are still critics. One major concern is seen in heat pollution. As there is no technology that operates with 100% efficiency it can be assumed that some heat can escape and be dispersed into the environment. Although there is no green house gas pollution or CO2 pollution, the added heat into the atmosphere could create some potential problems. One other concern, according to Robert Brockway, who did research on the project for a book of his, is containment. Since the facility aims recreate the temperatures and pressures of the sun, the containment of such energy seems as if it would be quite the task. Another concern when talking about temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius is that there is no set containment plan in the event of failure yet.

The process has been proven viable on a small scale in Europe at the NIF (National Ignition Facility), but the HiPER facility would vamp the process up to a much larger scale in order to create more energy. Technology such as laser fusion is very interesting and certainly sparks interest as a possible renewable energy source. Plus how would it be to know that your energy needs are being supplied by a mini sun created by hundreds of super lasers.

=AVE=

While the HiPER project is creating energy through means of fusion, the AVE project will put a new spin on wind energy. AVE which stands for **A**tmospheric **V**ortex **E**ngine was invented by Canadian scientist Louis Michaud. The idea behind it is to literally create a tornado which stretches 10 kilometers high into the upper troposphere, containing it in a single area and harnessing the wind energy that it produces.

The technology behind it is pretty straight forward. Tornadoes are formed by cool air and warm air mixing in sufficient quantities. The AVE project will use a ring of turbines on the ground to pump warm air into the upper atmosphere in a circular motion, creating perfect conditions for a tornado. Those same turbines will also harvest the large out put of energy created by the tornado. Michaud also states that the AVE would help stabilize the local weather around it and possibly even facilitate rainfall by assisting ground moisture to cloud level. This would serve to be beneficial to local farmers in the area as well as providing a reusable energy source. There is in fact already a prototype of the AVE in a dry lake bed in Utah which actually works. It is not to full scale though; it was created as a mere prototype to test its plausibility. Amazingly, it does create energy and seemingly just has to be done on a larger scale to reap the benefits. A very small scale version of the AVE (about a 4m tornado) can be seen in the video below, as well as some of the prototype designs for the AVE.

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As with the HiPER technology there are many concerns looming over somebody attempting to tame a tornado. The walls which contain the vortex do not stretch the entire height of the tornado, so one concern deals with the possibility that the tornado actually jumps the wall and is self sustained causing destruction to the surrounding area. Louis Michaud himself stated that to be on the safe side these AVE's should be placed in low populated areas. He is an engineer and not a meteorologist, so he is unsure of how the tornado will react to gusts of wind and other natural effects. In 2006 New Energy Congress member Ken Rauen wrote:


 * I do not like this concept for two clear reasons.**
 * One: I do not believe for a minute that the energy entrained in a synthetic tornado is truly anchored to the base station that creates it. It can take off with lots of potential energy that will take a while to dissipate, or can provide a mechanism for Nature to continue to pump it. Nature is pumping it anyway, as this is the whole point of using it!**
 * Secondly, it is intrusive. Who really wants a stationary tornado within view? I also doubt it will be silent!**
 * BAD, BAD IDEA. Not in my backyard! Not within 200 miles of my house!**

As one can see this can be a very large cause for concern, as nobody actually knows how this mega-tornado would act. Michaud had even mentioned at one point that the heat being pushed up into the atmosphere could be the excess heat from power plants, which could raise yet another concern. Having these giant tornadoes near power plants could prove deadly in the event of a rogue tornado ripping through a nuclear plant causing a meltdown as well as spreading contaminants along the tornadoes path. As it is clear that there are many issues to work out, it is still a very interesting concept on wind power.

=Conclusions=

The two innovative technologies described above are just a few ways that people have been starting to think outside the box in terms of new and renewable energy. They will hopefully open the door to more scientists who wish to find sustainable and safe energy. Though there are some flaws in a few of the ideas, I hope that the solutions can be found and these exciting new forms of energy can be truly put to the test. They are ground breaking ideas and have the potential to solve one of the most glaring issues of our time.