Posted on 11/10/2007 3:48:05 AM PST by shove_it
They're officially all the rage in the Pentagon and the private space industry: orbiting satellites that send solar power back down to earth to fight global warming—and turn a profit.
Space-based solar power may become an important energy source as fossil-fuel supplies dwindle in midcentury: A single 1-kilometer-wide solar array could collect enough power in a year to rival the entire world’s oil reserves.
snip
A Pentagon report released in October could mean the stars are finally aligning for space-based solar power, or SBSP. According to the report, SBSP is becoming more feasible, and eventually could help head off crises such as climate change and wars over diminishing energy supplies. “The challenge is one of perception,” says John Mankins, president of the Space Power Association and the leader of NASA’s mid-1990s SBSP study. “There are people in senior leadership positions who believe everything in space has to cost trillions.”
The new report imagines a market-based approach. Eventually, SBSP may become enormously profitable—and the Pentagon hopes it will lure the growing private space industry. The government would fund launches to place initial arrays in orbit by 2016, with private firms taking over operations from there. This plan could limit government costs to about $10 billion.
As envisioned, massive orbiting solar arrays, situated to remain in sunlight nearly continuously, will beam multiple megawatts of energy to Earth via microwave beams. The energy will be transmitted to mesh receivers placed over open farmland and in strategic remote locations, then fed into the nation’s electrical grid. The goal: To provide 10 percent of the United States’ base-load power supply by 2050.
Ultimately, the report estimates, a single kilometer-wide array could collect enough power in one year to rival the energy locked in the world’s oil reserves.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
That got my attention
p.s.
This post is via Instapundit.com
Sounds like a plan- but what’s going to happen to the market when people figure out that global warming is a fraud? Right now, there’s lots of investment money floating around in alt energy- a good thing for research and tech advancement, but perhaps a market bubble? If this idea is truly market based, a big reality check will eventually surface, and we’ll find out how great of an idea it really is.
pflr
Hmm. I’m guessing none of these scientists played Sim City. Satellite microwave power plants inevitably lead to parts of your city bursting in flames as the satellite becomes misaligned.
and we all know how realistic of a guidepost simcity can be...
It should, it is total BS. It makes the rest of the article not worth reading. The author either doesn't know what he is talking about, or he is a liar.
The sun provides about 1,365 watts per square meter of energy at the Earth's orbit.
A Fresh Look at Space Solar Power
http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/a_fresh_look_at_space_solar_power_new_architectures_concepts_and_technologies.shtml
1 sq meter would provide 11,957 kWH per year of power.
1 km x 1 km would provide 11,957,400,000 kWH per year.
1 KilowattHour = 3,412 Btu
1 Barrel crude oil = 42 U.S. gallons = 5,800,000 Btu
Energy Calculator - Common Units and Conversions
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/science/energy_calculator.html
1,317,447 million barrels of oil in latest estimate of world's proved reserves. Note: this only includes reservoirs which have been drilled and flow tested. It does not include areas like ANWR and much of our deep water that is not proved to have the quantities of oil estimated by geological study.
World Proved Reserves of Oil and Natural Gas
Oil, Oil & Gas Journal, January 1, 2007
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/reserves.html
11,957,400,000 kWH x 3,412 Btu / kWH = 40.8 Trillion Btu
1,317 billion barrels x 5,800,000 Btu / barrel = 7,641,192.6 Trillion Btu
It would take that Solar Array over 187 thousand years just to equal the oil we have left in explored reservoirs.
We use oil, because it contains a lot of energy.
That is it would take that long if they could capture 100% of the solar energy at perfect efficiency. At a realistic 15% capture, store and transport, it would take 1.2 million years.
Thanks. I thought it sounded a little high.
Off by a factor of a million, I would say that is a “little high”.
Hey, I’m only the messenger. Tell Popular Mechanics and the author...;^)
Just try raising taxes above the game's internal optimum.
I wasn’t trying to pick on you. Sorry if I sounded that way. I did post it at the Popular Mechanics site (slightly toned down). My post is awaiting approval for display.
Very true, and a point that is totally lost on most Libs. If there were a better alternative, we'd already be doing it. It's perfectly okay with me if the enviroweenies want to drive shoe boxes and believe in fairy tales. Just don't get mad a me when I mistake your econobox for a speed bump in my turbo diesel F-250 4WD......which, btw, gets 26 mpg while carrying several of those econoboxes the Libs love to drive.....
We get to fry invading UFOs with this LOL
The next was mid thirties, cost was fifteen cents and the stock market was not mentioned.
It was about one quarter inch thick and on very poor paper.
The energy will be transmitted to mesh receivers placed over open farmland
You do not I repeat NOT want to step in front of that beam!
/popsecret anyone?
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