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Beamed Space Solar Power Plant To Open In 2016?
Eric_S writes "Anybody who managed to get a decent city going in Sim City 2000 remembers the microwave power plant; now it seems like a real-world equivalent might be coming up on the horizon.
The Pacific Gas and Electricity Company, per this 'interview' with the CEO of Solaren on their affiliated site, announced PG&E's plans to buy 200MW of base-load power from a Solaren beamed space solar power plant by 2016." I wish the skeptic in me would be quiet.
This is what happens when you get your religions mixed up.
Cheap, clean, non-fossil power sources mean both low pollution (religion #1) and reduced carbon emissions to stop global warming (religion #2). But this hare-brained idea will heat the atmosphere and bring solar energy to the surface that would otherwise miss us entirely. This puts Green in conflict with AGW. It should be interesting to watch the sparks fly.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
./conservative --on ./conservative --off
Who says you have to move forward? You only need to make money.
You don't have power on top of a mountain in Dumbfuckinstan? Why the hell did you go there?
So, let's say (obviously) we're not going to use energy sats for all of our electrical needs. Let's say only 10% of our needs. That's still about 8,300 200MW satellites. What part of "not going to happen" do these people not understand?
Even if the WORLD cut it's electrical needs in HALF, that's still 4,140 200 MW satellites.
Game Over. Thanks for playing.
It's not all "doom and gloom". It's not the "end of the world". It's just that for the first time, we really can see it from where we stand, and it's not that far away or that hard to get to. It's going to take a boat load of work and enormous sacrifice to get humanity through the 21st century. And 200 MW energy sats are NOT the solution.
We're going to have to make "other arrangements" for civilisation to continue. And they don't include Xbox, SUVs, McMansions, weekend vacations Tahiti, and WalMart.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
1) you're, not your. Learn it.
2) We can covert microwaves into electricity with much greater efficiency than sunlight.
You mean the laws of physics prevent the system from generating a beam without the ground reflector? I don't think so.
Explain it or I call bullshit. To be honest, I'll probably still call bullshit, but you deserve a chance anyway.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Bullshit. The human body is not designed to be a power conductor, microwave, electrical solar, whatever, don't try to feed people this idea that its safe to stand in the beam. Almost every form of radiation known to man damages the body in some way, especially when taken in amounts greater than found naturally. I don't see ultraviolet, and I still get sunburns. I can't see the 'beam' in my microwave oven and food still gots hot as shit, my wifi transmitter is still more than capable of blinding someone with a good Pringles can.
Don't try this bullshit of 'its perfectly safe nothing can possibly go wrong' because it just makes it obvious you either are full of shit/hiding the truth, or just stupid.
So where are the studies showing that plant and animals have no problem living under this beam for extended periods of time? What? You don't have any? Why? Because its never been done before? So you don't really have any clue what the long term effects are going to be?
I'm not saying we shouldn't do it because its unsafe, but I am saying that this sort of 'its totally safe' bullshit needs to stop. Nuclear power is 'safe' to me, even though it is extremely dangerous, but the difference is, I'm not being fed a bunch of bullshit by people telling me how safe and perfect it is and how I should live right next door. They won't let me live anywhere NEAR most reactors.
People will be a lot less afraid of technology when we tell them the truth and they can believe it. Lie to people about nuclear power and tell them how great it is and then 3 mile island happens ... and no we build no more plants. Had they been informed in the first place there would have been far less of an outrage. But you know what, keep feeding the general public ignorance and bullshit, cause ALL of us are too stupid to realize it ...
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Wait, so you're saying we SHOULD have a continuous concentrated beam of high powered radiation being sent in from outer space?
The effects of radiation are cumulative, something as simple as a high powered satellite or radar dish being focused in the wrong direction into a building with a lot of people over the course of a long period of time (several years) will cause ridiculous rates of cancer to all denizens of said building. This has happened and there are successful lawsuits in fact to back it up. I can't find the link to this, but I learned it in my EMF class as part of my EE requirements back in college.
There is no "safe" radiation, especially continuous high powered microwaves. I'm no environmentalist, but this technology just has very high risk written all over it. I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to keep the orbit correct + keep the beam in the correct location + control the airspace + track the radiation in the surrounding area. I know I sure as hell wouldn't work or live anywhere near that building. I mean, imagine if they screw up the beam and have part of it beaming microwaves into residential areas for long periods of time or into unshielded parts of the building where people work.
I am a fan of more nuclear plants and research and just about every renewable, but this technology sounds ludicrous.