[Paleo Conservative]

How do they know it’s a breakthrough and not just another white elephant?

[Sherman Logan]

How do they know it’s a breakthrough and not just another white elephant?

Until you do the research and even build a functional prototype, you don't. Nobody knew nuclear power would work until it did.

This is why the very notion of the government making decisions about which processes should be implemented is unbelievably stupid.

An example, right now we're mandating CFL bulbs be used instead of incandescents, because they're roughly five times more energy efficient. This will lock us into a probably obsolete technology when LED fixture come on line, which are several times more efficient than CFLs.

[bossmechanic]

“How do they know it’s a breakthrough and not just another white elephant?”

One way you know that scientific progress has been made is
if the people involved are actually scientist in some form or fashion - as opposed to science impaired beaurocrats like al gore and the other 66,000 Acorn family members that have been recently put on government payrolls.

White elephants are promoted by politicians. Scientists ethically don’t depart from facts nor do they avoid discussion of ancilliary effects.

[wolf78]

How do they know it’s a breakthrough and not just another white elephant?

Simple: You never know beforehand. The market will decide and afterwards you can look the results. That goes for any kind of technology. Also, the market doesn't care for ideology. Currently prices for solar panels are dropping by 50%. If that trend continues, nuclear will be a white elephant. If not, it's the other way around. Basically, it's a bet and the best you can do is come up with an educated guess (which is also the concept behind a stock exchange).

Our present energy “problem” can easily be solved with the resources and technology that we have today.

Of course. There is no doubt whatsoever that human ingenuity will overcome any energy problem. And it could be done in serval ways. Nuclear, coal mining / CTL, even a complete switch to renewables is absolutely doable. Cover Nevada with solar cells and / or Texas with wind turbines and then do something like that for storage:

Merkel launches building of revolutionary hybrid power plant

Problem solved. The only question is and always will be: At what cost? And that's an economic issue, not an ideological one so best the market decides.

[Dutch Boy]

The answer is easy....

If the government funds it with our tax dollars, it’s a white elephant.

If private funds are invested, it’s likely a breakthrough.