Back when, I got jazzed about the Solar Power Satellite thing, called up
the guy working on the idea at the time (not quite the inventor, but he
took the idea and started working it) and got a job working for him. Did
some analyses, and it could actually work quite well, except that a
rather large area would be required for receiving antennas (rectifying
antennas - rectennas they were called) because you would need to keep
the power densities of the microwave beams (lasers could work too, but
less efficient) low enough not to fry things that flew through them
(birds and airplanes mostly) and you would need to size them for few
gigawatts to make the numbers work. But there is a lot of dis/un-used
land that would be OK to site them on with minimal affects, transmission
to load centers would then be an issue. But the overall efficiency of
the transmission is quite high (90% or better if I recall), and with
improvements in solar cells on the satellites or another conversion
means (solar cells were about the cheapest and least difficult to deal
with) the whole deal could deliver clean power just about anywhere at
reasonable cost. The biggest issue was launching to orbit, but even that
had some interesting options that could really lower the cost to orbit
from the earth's surface. Building stuff (sheet aluminum to make the
structure and solar cells in rolls) on the moon and pushing it earth
orbit looked to be the easiest actually, using adequate resources on the
moon (aluminum and silicon and vacuum and lots of clean power) and the
low energy to get from there to earth orbit. The moon would actually not
be too bad a place to do the manufacturing, what with evidence of water
there now and advances in automation, and a replicating base could be
established with not too much stuff having to be sent there.
But even now with $50 or $60/bbl oil, the economics (ansd $ are the best
least common denominator for assessing options) probably still favor oil
and nukes. And even back then there were people squawking that this
approach would have huge negative effects, etc. though they could not
really justify that opinion with any sort of rational argument.
--R
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Andrew wrote:
My dream is that technological breakthroughs will lead to ever more
clever ways to harness the power of the sun (photovoltaics), foster
energy conservation, and reduce emissions from the use of fossil
fuels. There are even some intriguing developments in nuclear power
that were unforeseeable a decade ago.
The problem with sunlight is that the power density at the surface of the earth
is simply too low for most modern energy uses. I don't remember the figures
now, but read about studies that looked at the power density in watts per
square meter at optimum conditions, and then figured the area required to
produce the same amount of watts as found in other sources (i.e. gasoline,
nuclear, coal, whatever) and even assuming 100% efficiency for the photovoltaic
cell, an enormous amount of area is required to produce the same amount of
power, say in 15 gallons of gas. It's really simply a matter of physics. If
you then look at the amount of energy required to make the solar cells, and the
industrial waste generated, throw in a few cloudy days, and the picture looks
worse and worse.
What I found to be really exciting is the idea of putting those solar cells in
orbit to cut the atmospheric losses, and beaming the energy down in the form of
microwaves or a laser or somesuch (concept was proven in Canada a few years
back using a high altitude solar powered UAV to stay airborne for weeks at a
time while beaming down microwaves). Or build the 'space elevator' and
transmit the electricity down the cable. Now we just need to kick NASA to the
curb and let the free market take over space exploration/exploitation and we'll
have some real fun!
Very respectfully,
/s/
LCDR Meade M. Dillon, USNR
’85 300TD 320k miles (Euro 5spd)
'96 Infiniti I30 147k miles (wife's 5spd)
'73 Balboa 20 'Sanctification'
Charleston SC
"Most men would rather die, than think. Many do." Bertrand Russell
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