Posted on 07/24/2008 4:27:55 AM PDT by shove_it
AS we face $4.50 a gallon gas, we also know that alternative energy sources — coal, oil shale, ethanol, wind and ground-based solar — are either of limited potential, very expensive, require huge energy storage systems or harm the environment. There is, however, one potential future energy source that is environmentally friendly, has essentially unlimited potential and can be cost competitive with any renewable source: space solar power.
Science fiction? Actually, no — the technology already exists. A space solar power system would involve building large solar energy collectors in orbit around the Earth. These panels would collect far more energy than land-based units, which are hampered by weather, low angles of the sun in northern climes and, of course, the darkness of night.
Once collected, the solar energy would be safely beamed to Earth via wireless radio transmission, where it would be received by antennas near cities and other places where large amounts of power are used. The received energy would then be converted to electric power for distribution over the existing grid. Government scientists have projected that the cost of electric power generation from such a system could be as low as 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is within the range of what consumers pay now...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You obviously know what you are talking about
I work for a company that would be glad to submit a proposal. The cost would be in dBGDP (decibels relative to the gross domestic product) and a positive number. (My company has fielded more acres of phased arrays on earth and in orbit than any other company in the world.)
I’m thinking it would be an array of satellites, each with only a few Megawatts of power. The sky over the focal point would be extremely dangerous, granted. Operators would have to cooridnate with local ATC and have a way of shutting down in the event of an incursion.
It is not safe to fly over the Haystack radar in Westford, Massachusetts, ten miles north of where I sit right now. Vastly worse for this thing, but it could be worthwhile.
[snort] Right. And plowing behind a mule is a whole lot simpler than building internal combustion engines, and lobbing rocks at your neighbor is easier than building planes and bombs. We should have never learned how to smelt metal...
And anyway, there *will* be advances -- if we don't work on it ourselves, Joe Chinaman will figure out how to do it and leave us in the dust.
Cool! Saturn has rings -- aww, that's nuthin' -- we got VANES!!
Same thing that happens to the plane that flies through the restricted airspace over the White House.
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