Posted on 11/14/2025 5:30:11 AM PST by SmokingJoe
Oil is stored solar energy.
He is just educating people about well known facts.
Facts and concepts which have been known for decades.
Musk’s mind is fascinating.. Thanks for posting.
In the wake of 9/11, Jerry Pournelle advocated for production of space solar power satellites to make the USA completely independent of Middle Eastern oil. He was very much against the Neocon adventures in the Middle East, which were a disaster for the USA.
He was not wrong.
I’m not quite sure what Musk’s point is here. I guess he just felt like delivering a little lecture on the importance of the Sun. Nothing wrong with that, of course.
But the greenies will love (and misunderstand) this quote: “Everything is solar power.”
If the abiogenic theory is correct, oil is product of the planet.
Musk describes himself perfectly.
The main difficulty in solar satellites beaming down power is the transmission. Upwards of 20% of the power would be lost.
He is a treasure. His tiff with Trump (probably the reason for your insult) is regrettable but unimportant.
Ranking civilizations by the Kardashev Scale is really stupid if you ask me. If they’re advanced, they should be able to produce energy much more effectively than relying on the power of the sun. The sun is a very inefficient thermonuclear reactor, by the way. Every year it only converts 0.00000001% of its hydrogen into helium, and only in its core. A hydrogen bomb, however, fuses all of its hydrogen into helium an instant. We should be able to build fusion reactors in the near future that are far better sources of energy than the sun, and in a more controlled way. Certainly more advanced civilizations will be able to do even better.
What he is saying is true. But we aren’t there yet. Other forms of energy are more efficient, especially nuclear. At some point a couple hundred or maybe a thousand years from now we’ll have a Dyson sphere around the sun and have unlimited solar energy. But at this point, mass solar use is science fiction.
solar power satellites were taken seriously in the 1970’s, and people forget that solar power is incredibly efficient but only if collected in outer space and beamed back to earth on receivers
Really? Round it up to 30 percent, and still 70 percent making it into the grid? Gee... that’s worth talking about...
Let take it one step at a time, because every step forward may have risks or adverse effects. Like how do you dispose of the excess heat produced in taking energy consumption up even one order of magnitude.
“ The main difficulty in solar satellites beaming down power is the transmission. Upwards of 20% of the power would be lost.”
Not to mention the extension cords are horribly expensive.
We can travel to the Sun if we do it at night. AOC
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.