NewEnergyNews: SOLAR FROM CLOSER TO THE SOURCE/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

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    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

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    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

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      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

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    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Thursday, August 23, 2007

    SOLAR FROM CLOSER TO THE SOURCE

    Seems expensive until you stop to consider how much we spend to protect oil supplies in the Middle East. Before this thing in Iraq gets cleaned up, it’s going to be a lot more expensive than sending a few dozen solar satellites into orbit.

    Space Solar Energy Has Future, U.S. Researchers Say; Small demonstration project could help justify further research
    Andrzej Zwaniecki, August 21, 2007 (U.S. State Department)

    WHO
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research scientist John Mankins

    WHAT
    A concept to station mega-satellite photovoltaic arrays with antennas in orbit to convert solar energy into microwaves and beam them to earth.

    A megasatellite collector/transmitter. (click to enlarge)

    WHEN
    In the mid-1990s, a NASA study headed by Mankin envisioned such an energy source to be functioning by 2050. The study described several dozen 2-5 megawatt megasatellites.
    Presently, solar cell capacity is much greater and microwave wireless transmission potential has quadrupled, dramatically lowering the costs involved.
    September 2006: House of Representatives’ science subcommittee review.
    September 2007: Department of Defense feasibility study to be completed.

    WHERE
    The mega-satellite arrays would be in geostationary orbit. They would send power to locations all over the earth.

    WHY
    - Sunlight is 8 times less intense on earth’s surface than in extraatomospheric orbit.
    - Microwaves efficiently penetrate the atmosphere carrying the converted energy.
    - The energy would be received at power stations and applied locally, converted to electricity or used to generate synthetic fuels.
    - This form of solar energy would not be intermittent. It would be available at remote, off-grid and disaster (grid-interrupted) sites.
    - Martin Hoffert, former chair, Department of Applied Sciences/New York University, has affirmed the validity of this concept in public statements.
    - Major obstacle: Transport into orbit via space shuttle costs of $20,000/kg which must come down to $200/kg, making total delivery/robotic assembly costs $3,500/kg. That is still a ways off. Small scale demonstration projects are being considered.

    A tower of collectors. (click to enlarge)

    QUOTES
    Mankin: “[The program] has fallen through the cracks because no organization is responsible for both space programs and energy security…But when you look at the kind of things we as a modern society spend billions of dollars on, [supporting] the idea of limitless clean energy from space is not such a bad goal…”

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