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Power Beaming For UAVs and Space Elevators
An anonymous reader writes "The idea of power beaming — using lasers or microwaves to transmit usable energy over great distances — has been around for decades. But recent advances in cheaper, more energy-efficient diode lasers have made power beaming commercially viable. LaserMotive, based in Kent, WA, is best known for winning the Level 1 prize of the NASA Power Beaming Challenge at the Space Elevator Games last November. In a new interview with Xconomy, LaserMotive co-founder Tom Nugent, who previously worked on the 'photonic fence' mosquito-zapping project at Intellectual Ventures, talks about gearing up for Level 2 of the NASA competition, slated for later this year. What's more, LaserMotive is trying to build a real business around beaming power to unmanned aerial vehicles, remote sensors and military bases, and other locations where it's impractical to run a wire, change batteries, or truck in fuel. The ultimate goal is to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth."
The ultimate goal is to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth
Last I checked, within their life span solar cells on earth don't pay for themself, or barely pay for themself. Presumably the advantage to harnessing solar power in space is the increased intensity of light without the interference of the earth's atmosphere. But solar panels aside, building and launching satellites is expensive, and this laser transfer of energy has unavoidable energy losses. One has to wonder if this could work out to be economically viable without some other serious technological breakthroughs.
Energy costs, not dollar costs. You think photovoltaic pays for itself? Show me the energy costs, including extraction, installation, maintenance, oh, and keeping the people who do all those things alive so that they can keep doing them indefinitely.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
We know - from our continuing existence - that coal provides more energy than it uses to obtain it. Does photovoltaic? I'm concerned that it doesn't, and the problem is that it'll take us another 30 years or so to find out that we've committed to a Sisyphian task.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Keeping people alive is "irrelevant bullshit"? See, that response is exactly why I am concerned that photovoltaic is a cult rather than a solution.
Curious that you think the "irrelevant bullshit" isn't a consideration for other forms of energy generation. Of course it is. Only a brainwashed retard would suggest otherwise. Our continued existence proves that fossil fuels provide more energy than they take to obtain, plus enough extra for super-"irrelevant bullshit", like the devices we use to have this enthralling debate.
So, does photovoltaic provide net energy? Show your working.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
"The ultimate goal is to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth"
Which eventually turns into heat, which could contribute to global warming, depending on your definition of 'large amounts of power', of course.
A.
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