What kind of energy did they use to “ramp up” the magnet? Electricity from a coal burning power plant?
Coal is less than 19% of the total energy generated by the American grid. Renewables generate more as does nuclear each one is more than coal.individually now. Gas is the dominate energy source in the USA by far.
Superconducting magnets use very little energy to produce magnetic fields given they are superconductors with.virtually no electrical resistance. You must have missed this part. It took less than 30 watts to generate a field strength of 20 Tesla that’s nothing short of incredible. Good job MIT.
“During the test, it generated a strong magnetic field needed for the fusion process while using only 30 watts of power.”
Here is the actual break down of energy produced in the USA from the agency tasked with monitoring that.
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3