Fusion Reactors

For much of human history energy has been a major issue teetering on the edge of crisis. With a constantly expanding population, more and more energy requirements were placed on the energy producers of Old Terra and while early research into green energy was conducted, it was largely proven to be inefficient and cost prohibitive when compared to fossil fuels. Research into fusion energy solutions began as early as the middle of the ancient world wars of Terran antiquity, but was largely fruitless as again the cost of energy required to make fusion happen vastly out weighed the actual amount of energy produced.
Everything changed with the spike drive. With the revolutionizing technology to travel the vast emptiness of space in relatively short trips, suddenly the helium-3 rich gas giants of the Sol System were cost effective to reach. Helium-3 and Deuterium fusion has long be considered the most efficient and least wasteful fuel source for reactors, and while early attempts were made to mine Helium-3 deposited on the crust of Old Terra's moon by solar winds, history shows that there just wasn't a significant amount of helium-3 to make the entire effort cost effective.
Revolutionary entrepreneurs Eric Ashfield and Borys Sivtany saw an opportunity in the creation of the spike drive. Founding Ashfield-Sivtany Energy Solutions they began funding trips to and from Uranus to mine helium-3. Like all of the Sol System's gas giants, Uranus' atmosphere was rich with helium-3, but its size and relatively small gravity well made it a lot cheaper to mine. Hiring some of Old Terra's finest physicists and engineers they developed the Ashfield Helium-3 Fusion Reactor (there was a falling out between Ashfield and Sivtany that resulted in the latter's name being withheld from the patent).