Home | Technology | Alternate Energy Resources

The Truth About A Space Based Solar Power System

By: John Kuzniar

Read More About Alternate Energy Resources

The time to find alternative sources of energy for our planet is growing shorter every day. Gas approaching and exceeding $4 a gallon is just the latest in the series of warnings that something needs to be done fast about our addiction to oil. In addition, home heating bills are at records levels this year with no end in sight for rising prices. We need more energy now, and the only ways to get it are for us to start thinking outside of the box. Fortunately, people other than scientists have begun to tackle the problem and do something about them.

Space based solar power has been talked about in theory for more than a few decades now. It revolves around the idea of positioning constellations of large solar panels in space or on the moon that can capture energy from the sun and transmit it back to earth for use. Each solar panel could be as much as one mile wide in size, or more.

So, why would these solar panels have to be positioned in space? Primarily, two reasons.

1) The most significant drawback of positioning the solar panels on the earth is that just about 1/2 of each day is without sunlight, meaning that no energy is collected. In space, the panels can be positioned so that they are always in view of the sun and energy can be collected 24 hours a day.

2) The sun loses much of it's energy as it fights its way through the earth's atmosphere - as much as 80%. On cloudy days, it loses even more. Space has no atmosphere, thus we could practically collect the full energy quotient from the sun.

The other piece of the space based solar powered solution consists of converting the energy from the sun into electromagnetic energy and beaming it back to earth where converters would convert it to alternating current.

The drawback to implementing a space based solar powered solution, as always, is the cost. It will take billions, and no one knows exactly how many billions, just to get the program off of the ground. With the burgeoning fossil fuel crisis, however, this may become a moot point. The rising fuel prices are being fueled by three converging factors:

- There are still trillions of dollars worth of fossil fuels in the planet, but it's simply getting harder and more expensive to extract them from the earth. Most of the "easy pickings" are gone. The higher extraction costs will be passed on to the consumer.

- There's more competition for the finite supply of oil. China's consumption of crude oil and refined oil products both hit record highs in the first quarter of this year. Result - rising oil prices.

- The dollar's value is continuing it's downward spiral. Until it stabilizes, energy prices will continue to rise.

Conversely, as the prices of fossil fuels are rising, the cost of making solar panels and other solar energy components is decreasing. Sometime soon, this alone may be enough to start a groundswell of people and nations shifting energy sources to solar.

In addition, although rising oil prices are inconvenient, a far greater danger may be the effects on the environment of continuing to use fossil fuels . When you combine all of these factors, the billions of dollars needed to implement a space based solar program may be the best idea for using the money that's been suggested in a while.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

John Kuzniar is a freelance writer who writes articles relating to alternative energy usages. For articles on solar hot water panels, solar panels for electricity, and other energy saving resources please visit his site.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Alternate Energy Resources Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Technology | Alternate Energy Resources
Sign Up for a free account.
Our other websites
All about SEO
Beauty Tips Forum
Submit Articles
Member Login
Link Us
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Sitemap
New Stuff
About Us
Developer
Good shopping portal
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard