Elon Musk just went viral again for a huge twist to the ever growing global debate about the future of clean energy. Musk, the billionaire chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, has come in with a savage critique of nuclear power.
Musk took to social media to mock the relentless pursuit of nuclear fusion reactors on Earth as 'super dumb', pointing out that humanity's energy focus should instead be directed to the power of the Sun.
Elon Musk's Stance on Nuclear vs Solar Energy
Elon Musk's savage words dropped on the social platform X, where he described the Sun as an 'enormous, free fusion reactor in the sky', very capable of providing more energy than humanity could ever need. In his viral post, he dismissed Earth-based fusion reactors as an expensive and impractical project, saying it was 'super dumb to make tiny fusion reactors on Earth'. He went further, saying that 'even if you burned four Jupiters', pointing out massive planets made mostly of hydrogen and helium, it would still not compare to the total power output of the Sun. Here is the post:
The Sun is an enormous, free fusion reactor in the sky. It is super dumb to make tiny fusion reactors on Earth.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 14, 2025
Even if you burned 4 Jupiters, the Sun would still round up to 100% of all power that will ever be produced in the solar system!!
Stop wasting money on puny little…
The main part of Musk's argument is a belief that the Sun's gigantic energy potential is underutilised. Solar energy, he suggests, is a clean, overwhelmingly replenishing source that should be central to humanity's efforts to transition away from fossil fuels. Moreover, he told companies and governments to stop 'wasting money on puny little reactors' unless their projects are clearly framed as theoretical experiments. This blunt language has caught the attention of basically millions of people around the world, as can be seen by the stats on his tweet.
Furthermore, Musk's viewpoint is not entirely new, because he has been an advocate for solar energy and battery technology for a very long time. Tesla's solar panel and energy storage business has grown massively too in the past few years, with the company deploying 12.5 GWh of energy storage products in the third quarter of 2025 and energy generation and storage revenue increasing by 44% year-on-year as per sources.
This shows Tesla's commitment to these fields. In 2024 alone, the energy division generated over $10 billion (£7.45 billion approx) in revenue and more than doubled its battery storage deployments to 31.4 GWh, showing how the segment has become a very important part of Tesla's business.
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So, Why Are We Not Banking on Solar Energy?
However, Musk's thoughts massively differ from the views of many other leaders and investors who believe nuclear fusion could play a huge role in future energy systems. Quite a few high profile technology firms and research initiatives are pouring billions of dollars into fusion research, trying to unlock a source of nearly limitless, zero carbon power. For example, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, backed by investors including Nvidia, recently raised $863 million (£637 million approx) to advance its work on fusion technology.
Moreover, the energy circle is in a big debate about how best to balance reliability, cost and environmental impact as countries work to cut carbon emissions. Solar power supporters say that sunlight is not only plentiful but much more cost effective. According to energy analysts, solar photovoltaics have become one of the cheapest sources of new electricity in many parts of the world, outcompeting fossil fuels and sometimes even other forms of clean generation.
Solar energy's potential is staggering, as past studies have pointed out that covering a relatively small area of desert, like just 1.2% of the Sahara Desert, with solar panels could, in theory, supply full quantities of electricity to entire continents. This helps Musk's point about the undeniable scale of energy available from sunlight compared to the output of even the best man-made projects.
Nevertheless, there are powerful arguments advocating for a diversified clean energy portfolio that includes nuclear power. Proponents of this argue that nuclear power, including both conventional fission reactors and next generation fusion designs, offers massive advantages. Mainly because nuclear energy can provide a continuous, base load power supply that does not depend on weather conditions, which remains a challenge for solar and wind generation without sufficient storage.
