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Space-Based Solar Power Beams Become Next Energy Frontier
popularmechanics.com ^ | January 2008 issue. | Erik Sofge

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Technical
KEYWORDS: energy; solar; solarpower; space
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>>>"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."<<<

That got my attention

1 posted on 11/10/2007 3:48:06 AM PST by shove_it
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To: shove_it

p.s.

This post is via Instapundit.com


2 posted on 11/10/2007 3:49:42 AM PST by shove_it (and have a nice day)
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To: shove_it
WE WILL BE WATCHING

3 posted on 11/10/2007 3:55:35 AM PST by Westlander (Unleash the Neutron Bomb)
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To: shove_it

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.


4 posted on 11/10/2007 4:01:59 AM PST by ovrtaxt (You're a destiny that God wrapped a body around.)
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pflr


5 posted on 11/10/2007 4:11:44 AM PST by crghill (Christianity...setting women free since 0 a.d.)
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To: shove_it

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.


6 posted on 11/10/2007 4:13:40 AM PST by burzum (None shall see me, though my battlecry may give me away -Minsc)
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To: burzum

and we all know how realistic of a guidepost simcity can be...


7 posted on 11/10/2007 4:33:59 AM PST by stefanbatory
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To: shove_it
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

That got my attention

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.

8 posted on 11/10/2007 4:44:56 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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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.


9 posted on 11/10/2007 4:47:48 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

Thanks. I thought it sounded a little high.


10 posted on 11/10/2007 4:49:29 AM PST by shove_it (and have a nice day)
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To: shove_it

Off by a factor of a million, I would say that is a “little high”.


11 posted on 11/10/2007 4:54:06 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

Hey, I’m only the messenger. Tell Popular Mechanics and the author...;^)


12 posted on 11/10/2007 4:58:00 AM PST by shove_it (and have a nice day)
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To: stefanbatory
"we all know how realistic of a guidepost simcity can be"

Just try raising taxes above the game's internal optimum.

13 posted on 11/10/2007 4:59:36 AM PST by Paladin2 (We don't fix the problem, we fix the blame!)
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To: shove_it

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.


14 posted on 11/10/2007 5:00:47 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
We use oil, because it contains a lot of energy.

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.....

15 posted on 11/10/2007 5:01:57 AM PST by Thermalseeker (Thinking of voting Democrat? Wake up and smell the Socialism!)
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To: Westlander

We get to fry invading UFOs with this LOL


16 posted on 11/10/2007 5:07:07 AM PST by Wiz
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To: thackney
Attaboy! Comment #17 looks like it’s along the lines of your point.
17 posted on 11/10/2007 5:08:53 AM PST by shove_it (and have a nice day)
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To: shove_it
I had two old PopularMechanic magazines.
One from the mid twenties, cost was two bits and had several articles about making money in the stock market.
It was on good paper and was about three eighths of an inch thick.

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.

18 posted on 11/10/2007 5:11:13 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto)
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To: Wiz

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!


19 posted on 11/10/2007 5:14:22 AM PST by Recon Dad (Marine Spec Ops Dad)
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To: Recon Dad
Plant corn in that field and you could have the worlds largest ever drive-in movie theater next door! ;-)

/popsecret anyone?

20 posted on 11/10/2007 5:25:25 AM PST by Normal4me
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