To serve the electrical energy requirements of humanity in the 21st century, it is not expected that we can rely on "fossile" or "alternative" power sources. Because nuclear waste is a fundamental problem of nuclear fission based power plants, there has been a vast amount of research on nuclear fusion.
Most of the current nuclear fusion experiments are carried out either with a tokamak (nuclear fusion plasma magnetic confinement torus) or inertial confinement techniques based on laser light. The tokamak is by far the most familiar to anyone outside the field. It was -and maybe is- the most promising of all nuclear fusion technologies. Although a succesful commercialization is not expected before 2050, scientific breakeven has been achieved, but only for a very short time. Inertial confinement is a technique in which the fusion sample is compressed and heated by a couple of very powerful lasers hitting it from al sides. Efficiency is very low at the moment.
However, in the past a third technique, inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC), was invented by the father of the television tube, Philo Farnsworth. It is basically a very special kind of radio tube, in which nuclear fusion takes place. Because of the problems currently encountered with more conventianal approaches, some people have reconsidered the concept of the IEC "fusor". Efficiency is very low for the moment, but it is sold as a portable neutron source. When this product is a commercial success, there will be money available to further the research in this area. Because I think it is a very interesting subject with a lot of unexplored possibilities, I challenge anyone out there to think about it. Maybe you will be the one who solves the "energy quest". A web browser should be sufficient to get you started... and a Nobel prize is waiting for you!