Net energy
A phrase used loosely in fusion coverage to mean any result where more energy came out than went in, without saying which energy was counted in. Most often it means scientific breakeven, energy out exceeding the energy delivered to the fuel or plasma. It can also mean engineering breakeven, a whole plant's electricity output exceeding its electricity consumption, and the two differ enormously: NIF's December 2022 shot passed the first with a target gain of 1.5, while its wall-plug gain was below 0.01 and it produced no electricity at all. A claim of 'net energy' should always be checked against which of the six gain figures it refers to.
Related terms
- Vocabulary id
concept:net-energy- Scheme
- Concepts
Back to the glossary.