On Fri, 30 May 2008 20:54:13 -0700, Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM> wrote: >http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/05/30/space.solar/index.html > >We've discussed this before... strange article; it says "The country that >takes the lead on space solar power will be the energy-exporting country for >the entire planet for the next few hundred years" then it says somebody >needs to foot a billion dollars for it... I'm thinking that must be a typo. > >At any rate, considering what we're spending in Iraq, etc. plus all the >costs of the current power setup and the environmental damage, you'd think >the money part of this would be a no-brainer, particulary for >a international cooperative of gov'ts. > >I understand from other reading I've done that the 'beams' might be >environmentally dangerous, however; they're not sure yet about the effect on >the atmosphere and nearby organisms, where to put the collection structures, >etc. > >Cya, >Robert list: article contains many ridiculous claims, albiet possibly taken accurately from government and industry reports. the total solar intensity at the earth is 1.4 kW per square meter. therefore, per square km the incident power is 1.4 thousand megawatts, roughly the actual output of one conventional power plant. being generous and assuming 5% of this incident solar power actually finds its way to the grid, that means 20 square km of collector would be needed to provide the output of one conventional power plant. of course, even then, electrical power is not liquid fuel. and yet, the article claims that the solar energy incident on just one square km, for one year, equals the chemical energy stored in the remaining conventional petroleum. dan |
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