[jmcenanly]

Total englobement isn't really necessary. A simple band around the star would suffice. Larry Niven introduced the idea in his Ringworld books.


Here is a graphic with more information.

[Moltke]

LOL. Whenever I see such depictions, my first recommendation is to visit some website that shows our solar system TRUE TO SCALE.

Be prepared to scroll a lot. And watch out you don’t miss the flyspeck that is planet earth. All the silly notions expressed in this thread will go right out the door, then. (It might also cause feelings of loneliness and insignificance - don’t worry, that’ll pass.)

The usual condensed models that look so tidy are an extreme disservice to the general public.

[Rifleman]

Yah, but you gotta be able to make a lot of scrith.

A single continuous object is not needed. Just a huge number of BIG solar collectors orbiting the star, transmitting the energy to where it is needed via microwave or laser.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If one had to replicate such a situation to power Planet Earth, I wonder if the ring of solar cells would need to be wide enough that it would even be visible several light years away?