Fusion by laser

BBC News: Laser vision fuels energy future.

Researchers from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire, working with partners from 14 countries, have tabled a proposal to use lasers to recreate the physical reactions at the heart of the Sun.

Harnessing nuclear fusion, as the process is known, would offer almost unlimited energy without the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.  A proposal to fund the set-up costs of a project called Hiper (High Power Laser Energy Research) is currently being considered by the EU.

Nuclear fusion is the process of shoving two atoms together to make a larger one, releasing energy in the process.  To make it work on Earth, you'd need to get the fuel hotter than the Sun to make up for the lack of pressure.