ALAN BOYLE: Fusion energy dreams smash into hard economic realities. “In the current era of cheap fossil fuels and increasingly affordable renewable energy, there’s just not enough incentive to move forward more quickly with fusion research. But that could change if there’s a breakthrough, of if there’s a desperate need for the ‘always-on’ baseline power that fusion could provide.” Not so sure about the “increasingly affordable renewable energy,” but we certainly have plenty of fossil fuels, it appears. Why, I haven’t heard the words “peak oil” — other than ironically — in ages.