Comments on: Solar Winds Could Provide 100 Billion Times Earth’s Energy Needs

By: onlyarose

onlyarose — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:39:43 +0000

I think its a great “idea” – but it might more pratical to use Earth energy for us and space energy for satellites…

Just a few homes and small businesses using solar and wind energy in every city would help cut back on the energy crisis. With nuclear power plants as back up only…

By: kabivose

kabivose — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:58:50 +0000

The 100 billion assumes the sun is completely surrounded by the satellites. The 1 Billion GigaWatts is from 1 satellite, though even that is far more than we use.

By: etoad123

etoad123 — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:25:52 +0000

Does that mean the whole earth uses just 10 megawatts of electricty? Just a few large windmills?
Someone check my math, I\’m from Montana.

By: Bob -a Tesla fan

Bob -a Tesla fan — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:32:37 +0000

Instead of going into space, why not let space do the work, as Tesla proposed, with his wireless transmission of power,over a hundred years ago. i.e. Wardenclyffe or his 1930 Pierce-Arrow electric car, powered by his mysterious black box.
-Bob
a Tesla fan for years

By: Sterling Allan

Sterling Allan — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:09:23 +0000

While the “renewable” component of this idea are to be lauded, there are several problems with this idea.
1) What about all those meteorites, small, medium, and large that it would inevitably encounter? How easy would it be to detect and patch a hole in the tarp?
2) This would have a huge up-front capital cost. Not something our planet is going to be able to dish out any time soon, given that we are in barely-eeking-by mode.
3) The health effects on humans, animals, plants from the transmission of this power are not well enough understood or accounted for. Society is in denial about the harmful effects of our existing gadgets.
4) This would reinforce the need for a distribution grid. I’d like to see renewables move us toward grid independence, not the other way around.

I call it a cute idea that should not be pursued for 100 years until we are more mature and able to deal with these things with integrity; and by then, we are likely to have found other free energy sources that are cheaper, and much easier to implement.

– Sterling D. Allan, CEO, Pure Energy Systems (PES) Network, Inc.
http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Space_Based_Solar_Power

By: don duck

don duck — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:29:57 +0000

…and who would control that power and to what end?

By: elFisico

elFisico — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:23:41 +0000

ERm, yes, “powerful infrared laser beams”, in orbit?!

Does anybody see a problem with that?!

Single-walled carbon nanotubes could provide a way to build a space elevator into orbit, giving cheap space travel and a way to transport that energy safely back down to earth. Powerful beaming devices are NOT a safe way to get that energy down from orbit.

By: pauldodo

pauldodo — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:50:11 +0000

So, if it produces a hundred billion times more than the earth needs at 8400km wide, erm, why not make it smaller?

Just saying.

By: archimy

archimy — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:06:10 +0000

I think the concept of transmitting this energy to earth will result in a very high loss due to resistance, in whatever form is developed to eventually handle this. However what about space travel? Do these systems create enough instantaneous power to support space travel or are the better for long term low capture applications?