Posted on 02/13/2008 10:33:02 PM PST by newbie2008
ABOUT THE LECTURE: It took a crisis to shift Roger Angel’s gaze from the stars back to Earth, but we may all benefit from his full attention, locked as it is on helping crack the problem of global warming.
Angel’s expertise lies with telescopes and astronomy, so it seems fitting that he views the sun as our greatest hope in reducing dependence on fossil fuels. His first efforts focused on geo-engineering a way out of warming, by either pumping sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere, or constructing a giant sunshade, to block the sun’s impact. He figured these fixes could work relatively quickly, but might deliver negative side effects, and in the case of the giant space screen, cost in the trillions. Regarding this orbiting sun deflector, Angel tells us that “the present administration of NASA thinks it’s stupid” and won’t fund it. So he has been exploring alternative solutions.
One idea was to create a necklace of satellites in geosynchronous orbit around the Earth that could collect the undiluted energy of sunlight, convert it to microwaves, and then beam it back home. To generate 3000 gigawatts of electrical power, we would need 600 of these satellites. This idea proved very expensive, due to the launch weight of each of the space solar power stations – upwards of 70 thousand tons. Until space travel and construction become routine, this idea can’t fly, believes Angel.
He’s far more optimistic about the development of massive, ground-based solar arrays, planted on hundreds of square miles in the desert. In the U.S., this means Angel’s own backyard, in Arizona, and other states along the border with Mexico. He sees these solar collection farms operating year-round, and transmitting electricity via intercontinental transmission lines to the coasts of the nation. Angel says this form of transmission is a proven and relatively inexpensive technology. He suggests using Lake Mead or other western waters as giant hydroelectric storage facilities. He is devising a prototype photovoltaic array using an abandoned PBS communication dish, and in his university workshop milling mirrors that are intended to concentrate the light of sunshine by a factor of 1000. In the Southwest, Angel says, “there is enough sunshine on a couple hundred miles square to feed the whole nation."
bmflr
All these stations are in operation and will remain so for another 50 or so years. Because of the design of the Westinghouse AP-1000, these will effectively be new stations at existing sites, since adding any kind of building to any existing building would require about a billion dollars (no exaggeration) in engineering evaluations.
All the nuclear plants in the United States are custom built. There are 4 general designs (Westinghouse, General Electric, Combustion Engineering, and Babcox & Wilcox), but each reactor had to have every detail of design approved by the NRC. With the AP-1000, and the General Electric ABWR, the design has already been approved by the NRC, and the utilities will only have to prove to the NRC they’ve built the plants according to design. If they try to add to existing buildings, that would be a change in design, so you’d lose the economic advantages. At Harris, the plan is to locate the new reactors across one finger of the cooling lake from the existing plant. I’m pretty sure the others will be doing similar things.
600 of them? Thats a lot of targets to go after all at once in space. Miss only one and there’s a 5 gigawatt microwave beam ready to cook the attacker!
I sure hope he’s got a good tracking system on that microwave beam or zap goes someone’s house.
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