Off-world Power Generation
Working Proposal
Imagine making oil, coal and fracking obsolete. humankind needs to look to the virtually unlimited freely available resource of solar power. It's everywhere around us. It fills space.
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Feeling helpless about our dying planet? Frustrated by the ceaseless plundering of Earth by the coal, gas and oil industries? Tired of waiting for a plan? Well we're going to actually do something about it. Miller Offworld Power will send solar panels to space and beam the collected energy back to earth with lasers. yeah. frickin' lasers. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, non-stop power.
We have a working prototype and want to enter phase 2 - optimization and scaling up. Join us in the fight for our planet.
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In another world, Earth isn't dying, it's prospering. And the inhabitants have access to unlimited offworld free energy. With your help, We can make that our reality.
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In other words as sufficient power becomes available, it will automatically render the extraction of fossil fuels from the Earth's crust economically infeasible.
Concepts
Given:
- earth to moon: 238,900 miles
- there are four lagrange points that provide constant sun exposure at predictable locations
- l1 to earth/moon: 1 million miles
- the sun primarily produces visible light (not microwaves or gamma...)
- laser transmission is more efficient than microwave, except where earth's atmosphere interferes
- current status: A Gigawatt-range microwave system would weigh ~80,000 tons (prohibitively expensive) more lots more
- Solar cell efficiency
Premises:
<Earth> <-microwave-- <Earth-orbit satellite> <-laser-- <Earth's moon> <-laser-- <L1 solar array> <Earth> <-clearsky-burst-laser-- <Earth's moon> <-laser-- <L1 solar array> <Earth> <-clearsky-burst-laser-- <L1 solar array>
- <Earth> <- <Earth-orbit satellite>
Laser transmit antenna in space: 1 meter diameter per GW Receive: Several hundred meters across
- <Earth-orbit satellite> <- <Earth's moon>
- <Earth's moon> <- <Earth-Sol Lagrange-point solar array>
Targeting the energy requirement of NYC:
- Power is measured in Newton-meters per second or Joules per second or Watts.
- ~3000 trillion BTU in 2016 = 3000 trillion btu / 365 days = 3.4E+11 btu/hr = 1.0036680479e+11 watts = 100 GW
PV energy collection
- PV power stations collect more power than solar thermal power stations. They seem to average ~3 MW/km^2 (throwing out 2 ridiculous outliers).
- Traditional single-junction cells have a maximum theoretical efficiency of 33.16% more. In reality it is around 18.7%.
- A 65"x39" (1.64 m^2) solar panel made in 2018 produces ~320W.
- About 48% of solar energy hitting the Earth reaches the surface. Perhaps optimistic, but we will divide by .48 to get energy-in-space vs on-earth.
- Approximate energy absorbable by a solar panel in space: 320W / 1.64m^2 / .48% = 400W/m^2 in space
- Approximate required size of a solar array "near Earth" (including l1) to power NYC: 100GW / 400W/m^s = 250 sq km
- Dan: 1 out of every 811 humans on earth live in NYC, so 250 sq km dish * 811 (assuming every human uses as much energy as a New Yorker) requires a solar array of only around 200,000 sq km - the size of Nebraska - to power the globe.