ABSTRACT
Solar energy for home heating is poised for commercial takeoff both in Europe and the United States, but the relatively simple technology employed is only partially relevant to a hydrogen economy. Hydrogen must be manufactured in a variety of ways, from natural gas, from coal, and eventually from water and both solar and nuclear energy. A very important implication is that hydrogen makes it possible to economically store energy derived from solar or nuclear primary energy sources. Nuclear energy is a potential heat source for thermochemical water-splitting or a source of electricity for electrolysis if that should prove to be economically superior for hydrogen making—a question nobody can answer with any certainty. The oceans trap vast amounts of solar radiation, with higher temperatures near the surface and colder deeper layers. In most fusion research, plasma confinement and heating is attempted by some sort of magnetic technique.
