The world needs to and will solve the problem of insufficient energy. Technology is now being pursued toward that effort in the form of ground-based solar power panels and wind energy. These solutions are temporary and inadequate to solve the world’s great needs. Night-time darkness and unreliable winds are fatal flaws of the current effort.
The solution has been known for many years, and it is pollution-free. It was featured in the magazine Popular Mechanics in 1977. The solution involves launching huge parabolic antennas into geosynchronous orbits attached to generators. It is called space-based solar power (SBSP) with antennas that will always face the sun.
These generators will create laser beams focused on earth-bound stations near water that generate steam and electricity. The stations will send electrical current along chilled underground wires in all directions. The cold wires will have no resistance to the electricity (unlike the overhead wires used today). The solution will provide a secure electrical underground infrastructure for the nation which can be replicated throughout the world.
The idea has not yet gone forward because of the past cost of launching the huge satellites. The recent launching of a giant telescope shows that it is now feasible. The cost of launching is decreasing quickly as private enterprise is getting involved.
Angst over current energy problem is causing short sighted efforts and environmental damages. Other and better solutions like SBSP are coming reasonably soon. The marvelous ingenuity of our scientists will solve the energy conundrum.
Donald Wilber, Bloomington
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