Oil prices are indeed coming down, but that is no reason to stop looking into renewable sources of energy. Oil will only last a finite amount, and the plunging oil prices over the last few months is only temporary. Our demand for energy is not one that will stagnate for long. We consume more oil than anyone on the planet and the demand will get larger over time.
There are problems with the current renewable energy sources we have now. Wind energy requires large plots of land and are noisy. Geothermal and tidal is specific only to location and cannot be used in a wide scope. Nuclear doesn’t pollute the air, but we have to deal with the radioactive waste. Solar can only be used during the day…unless…we send large collectors up in space and beam the energy down to the earth in the form of harmless microwaves for our consumption.
It sounds like something a 3rd grade child would come up with for the solution to our energy problems, but it is not a far fetched solution at all. The idea is not new. In fact it was first thought of by Peter Glaser in 1968 and has been gaining more interest in recent years due to the rising cost of oil.
Let’s break it down into its parts. First we would have to consider if the technology is there. We know how to build solar panels, and improvements in efficiency are being made seemingly daily. We know how to build microwaves, and we know how to get into space. It is estimated that a single solar power satellite could deliver five to 10 gigawatts of energy to the ground continually. The entire state of California produces 4.4 gigawatts. The final result could be a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt hour.
I admit, solar power satellites won’t be cheap. Constructing one would cost about as much as building a nuclear power plant: on the order of $1 billion. That money, though, needn’t come from the taxpayers; it could be raised by the private capital market. Oil companies invest that kind of money every year in exploring for new oil fields. But the risk involved in building an SPS, as with any space operation, is considerable, and it could be many years or even decades before an investment begins to pay off. So how can we get private investors to put their money into solar power satellites?
This nation tackled a similar situation about a century ago, when faced with building big hydroelectric dams. Those dams were on the cutting edge of technology at the time, and they were risky endeavors that required hefty funding. The Hoover Dam, the Grand Coulee Dam and others were built with private investment — backed by long-term, low-interest loans guaranteed by the U.S. government. They changed the face of the American West, providing irrigation water and electrical power that stimulated enormous economic growth. Phoenix and Las Vegas wouldn’t be on the map except for those dams.
Solar power satellites could be funded through the same sort of government-backed loans. Washington has made such loan guarantees in the past to help troubled corporations such as Chrysler and Lockheed. Why not use the same technique to encourage private investment in solar power satellites? If we can bail out Wall Street, why not spend a fraction of that money to light up Main Street?
via washingtonpost
Tags: solar, solar energy, solar satellite
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