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Standard Solar Panels vs. Space Based Solar Power

Space Based Solar Power – Energy Source of the Future or Doomsday Weapon? Space Based Solar Power is so cool. It’s something you’d expect to see in a science fiction movie. Basically, Space Based Solar Power uses an orbiting space satellite to collect solar energy via mirrors and use  photovoltaics to convert the energy. Then the energy is transmitted to a collector on Earth via RF (Radio Frequencies) or else by laser beams. Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) makes sense because it collects energy outside our atmosphere and it doesn’t get blocked by clouds. Also SBSP isn’t really affected by the daily rotation of the earth and the time of day because it’s out in space. This type of energy generation could solve a great deal of our energy problems in the USA and for other countries as well. But this technology could easily be used as a doomsday weapon. Think about it, the Space Based Solar Power designs say that they will use mirror reflector systems that are as big a 5km each. That means a SBSP satellite could harness the power of 10 square km of pure solar power and direct that energy into a laser beam or microwave emitter. With that kind of power behind a laser or microwave emitter someone could link an orbiting system to a tracking system similar to a military version of Google Earth and fry or melt a target from space.

In spite of the very possible application of Space Based Solar Power for deadly military purposes I think that SBSP is an excellent idea. It has many positive problem solving aspects to it economically and environmentally. Click here to check out this link to the NSS to learn more about the Advantages to Space Based Solar Power. I like how the NSS says that SBSP doesn’t compete with farm-land. That makes total sense. There is unlimited room to build Solar Mirrors in space. So as long as we have the resources to build the Space Based Solar Power satellites then the relatively small receiver stations on Earth will leave room for farms or cities or natural wilderness. Another thing that the NSS brings up is that setting up SBSP is costly but it is no where near as expensive as constant military operations in places that hostile for collecting oil.

I have Some concerns about Space Based Solar Power that I haven’t seen addressed anywhere on the web. One such concern is that the current designs proposed by the NSS look thin and flimsy and they don’t look like they’d withstand an asteroid or very much space debris. So my suggestion to the designers of SBSP is that they make the construction modular and loosely connected. This way if a major asteroid hit a section of mirrors they would simply snap off instead of threatening to destroy the entire satellite and especially what I would expect to be the expensive Photovoltaic converters and the RF emitter. If part of the mirrors broke off it wouldn’t be that big of a deal because another space transport could go up and repair the SBSP satellite at a later date and it could still function albeit with less efficiency.

-Tyler

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space-based_solar_power

Space Based Solar Power – Wikipedia

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/091202-space-power-beaming.html

Controversy Flares Over Space-Based Solar Power Plans

By Jeremy Hsu Special to SPACE.com posted: 02 December 2009 09:29 am ET

http://www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/

Space Solar Power – Limitless energy from space

I have been staying on top of the concept of urban desolation, food scarcity, environmental damage and vertical farming for a while now. And I thought that vertical farming would be something of the distant future. If you’ve never heard of vertical farming before click on this link to find out more! In a nutshell, vertical farming is a way to make food inside cities by building large tall structures that grow food and recycle waste, known as, black water. The whole idea of vertical farming is very romantic to me because it has a glimmer of a Utopian future where people live in cities and their food is grown close to home and there is sustainability as well as self-sufficiency of the food that’s consumed within city limits. This self-sufficiency would make cities more independent and would be safer in case of some kind of transportation disaster where getting food from rural farms in distant places became difficult due to freeway or rail congestion and/or destruction. There is a great deal of technology and thinking that needs to happen before vertical farms become a reality. But one such precedent that is happening now that will seed the way to vertical farming is what is happening now in Detroit.

In Detroit there are many properties that have foreclosed and/or abandoned their property and there are desolate areas. This is causing not only an ugly looking spot on different neighborhoods in Detroit, but it is a waste of space that could be used for other uses. The problem is that many manufacturing and other jobs have left Detroit and so much of its population has left as well. This is leaving big holes in the city. What a company known as Hantz Farms wants to do is create farms in Detroit that require the removal of pavement and asphalt, and access to the old soil of a once rich farming community. If you click on this link you will be taken to Hantz Farms and the site will explain how the company wants to rejuvenate Detroit by creating farms directly inside the city. This will provide much needed jobs and will beautify the city, not to mention the green will be a nice change-up from the grey buildings everywhere.

These farms in Detroit already exist to an extent. There are small tomato farms in Detroit. But this is just the beginning. If Hantz has its way then there will be entire city blocks full of farms as well as having beautiful gardens on the outskirts. Hantz believes that the farms will also inspire local business to sprout up near the farms  because of tourism and other activity. But I think that these farms will be the foundation to vertical farms. The reason why is because these Hantz farms are for profit. And they will show other cities that food production inside city limits is a profitable enterprise. If there is a market for farms then there will definitely be a market for high-rise vertical farms in the future. Why? Because bigger cities may not have as much open land as Detroit but they may want to have farms in their less populated areas. Since vertical farms take up less horizontal space and acreage it makes sense that vertical farms would be the logical choice.

Imagine a USA where each major city provides its own emergency reserves of food right within city limits. And you could go to school in urban horticulture or city farming at your local city college and get a job at a urban farm not too far away. Think of how more connected people would be to their dinners if they saw the potatoes and tomatoes that they have on their plate growing in buildings outside their office windows. That would just inspire me to eat more veggies because I’d like to know that I’m supporting people having jobs that they feel good about. Also isn’t it a cool idea that Hantz thinks they will be able to provide benefits to farm workers? Vertical farms are definitely a technology of the future but they’re based on things we already know about, Hydroponics, Agriculture, High-Rise Building Construction etc. And you will see that vertical farms are part of my ideas on creating a more secure, productive and prosperous future for the USA.

-Tyler

Sources:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/29/news/economy/farming_detroit.fortune/index.htm

CNN Money – By David Whitford, editor at largeDecember 29, 2009: 11:37 AM ET

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming

Wikipedia: Vertical Farming

http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/39036.aspx

Vertical Farming – Providing Alternative Resources for Food Production

Article by ciel s cantoria
Edited & published by Niki Fears on Jun 17, 2009

http://www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com/introduction.html

Hantz Farms – Detroit

GM’s Bust Turns Detroit Into Urban Prairie of Vacant-Lot Farms

GM’s Bust Turns Detroit Into Urban Prarie of Vacant Lot Farms

By Michael McKee and Alex Ortolani – Bloomberg News – Dec 8, 2008