Eureka!!

[patman post]

Possibly, but they must get energy from somewhere because you don't get something for nothing, although God knows I have tried

You're asking the wrong person, I'm no technician. But as I understand it, modern optical fibre communication cable transmission systems carry multiple wavelengths of light signals simultaneously.

Some of this light can be used to excite/power the erbium-doped glass repeaters that push the data signals on their way.

Undersea and land copper transmission cables use electronic repeaters spliced in at regular intervals, which are powered by electricity carried by the line. The doped glass uses laser light to power it instead of electricity.

But it's not exactly something for nothing — the laser light has to be initially generated at the end of the fibre optic cable...

[Borchester]

I reckoned it was feasible since I learned undersea fibre communication cables managed to incorporate optical amplifiers/repeaters that didn't require external electrical energy to boost the signals along their way...

Possibly, but they must get energy from somewhere because you don't get something for nothing, although God knows I have tried

[HDQQ]

I'm prepared to believe this is genuine but it will be a very, very long time before the process can be harnessed on an industrial scale. By the time that happens, we'll probably have burnt all our fossil fuels warming up the biosphere and it'll be cooling down again because there's nothing left to burn!

[Nick]

I reckoned it was feasible since I learned undersea fibre communication cables managed to incorporate optical amplifiers/repeaters that didn't require external electrical energy to boost the signals along their way...

Interesting, using what?

[patman post]

I reckoned it was feasible since I learned undersea fibre communication cables managed to incorporate optical amplifiers/repeaters that didn't require external electrical energy to boost the signals along their way...

[Nick]

Dogs bollocks. !

Nuclear fusion has been just around the corner since they invented corners, but fingers crossed and all the rest, this might be the real thing.

But this is the first time they've got more energy out than they put in, and using photons. Some people are stuck in the past and still think you will suffocate if you go above 20MPH. 

[papasmurf]

Dogs bollocks. !

Nuclear fusion has been just around the corner since they invented corners, 

It still is around the corner. I had a guided tour of The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, when I was an engineering apprentice back in the late 1960s. 

[Borchester]

This is big news if it's not fake, and I'm fairly sure it's not 1st of April.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63950962

Dogs bollocks. !

Nuclear fusion has been just around the corner since they invented corners, but fingers crossed and all the rest, this might be the real thing.

[Nick]

This is big news if it's not fake, and I'm fairly sure it's not 1st of April.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63950962