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Beyond Blue Light: Inventor Aims for Endless Clean Energy
6 Jul
Summary
- Shuji Nakamura, Nobel laureate, seeks to create fusion power.
- His invention of blue LEDs transformed daily life globally.
- Aims for an endless, efficient, and clean energy supply.
Shuji Nakamura, the Nobel Prize-winning inventor of the blue LED, is now focusing his innovative spirit on a new frontier: clean energy. Having already revolutionized daily life with his LED technology, Nakamura is currently working towards developing a nuclear fusion power plant. This ambitious project utilizes a novel high-pulse laser system, with the goal of generating an "endless" supply of efficient and clean energy, free from uranium and meltdown risks.
At 72, Nakamura, a professor at UC Santa Barbara, feels retirement is "very boring" and is driven by the prospect of this significant breakthrough. His journey began with challenges, facing ridicule early in his career at Nichia Corporation for lack of productivity. His relentless pursuit of blue LEDs, a feat many deemed impossible, eventually led to his Nobel recognition in 2014 and a profound global impact.
Nakamura's current venture, Blue Laser Fusion, co-founded in November 2022, leverages his LED expertise to create laser power for nuclear fusion. The company is scaling up with the goal to construct a 1-gigawatt pilot fusion power plant near Santa Barbara, California, by 2032. This plant would be capable of powering approximately 750,000 to 1 million homes, marking a potentially monumental contribution to global energy production.
