Summary:
This article explains a new very renewable energy. This as you can see from the title is called space solar power. It explains how this new energy resource is unlimited once you set up the satellites. It also explains the process that this energy transformed into useable energy by using solar panels to gather this energy and then wireless send the energy down to earth into an antenna that receives the energy gathered from this satellite. It says how this energy can be used 24-7 every day because it is in space and the sun is always shining in space. Another thing this article says is that this article says is that since this energy is taken from the sun it is a very long lasting resource that will last billions of years. This says that this energy source will solve the energy crisis that we are having now. One other thing this article says is that since this energy can be turned into electrical energy we can use it to fuel electric cars which is what we already have. This is creating an new clean energy source for transportation.
Opinion:
This is a very good article to me. I never thought that you could get energy from the sun in space without any kind of wires or anything to connect to power sources. This is very good to me because we can use this resource 24-7 for billions of years. Also this energy creates no waste and is an environmentally friendly resource that gives you much more power than we can produce now. This is also very interesting because it talks about giving us a new very long lasting energy that can be used to fuel cars. It amazes me how we as a race can learn to adapt to losing one of our most precious resources.
Thoughtful questions:
1. Are there any negative impacts of this resource?
2. Should America change to using this resource? Why or why not?
3. Do you think using this resource will fix the world's energy problem?
4.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteI think this article is really interesting, and I think it fits in perfectly with what we have been talking about in class. I think solar power is something that is greatly overlooked. I wish there were more places that would make the switch. It was a really good idea to put solar panels in space. That way the solar energy is not taking away from anything below it. I think america should invest in putting solar pannels in the dessert because there is nothing there but solar energy.
Answer to Question:
1. As comes with everything, there are some negative impacts to solar energy. Solar panels are extremely expensive. If they are placed over folage, everything will die due to the lack of sunlight. solar energy is the basis of every ecosystem, so it is important to make sure our solar pannels do not interfere with this.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteI knew that electricity could be sent without wires, and that solar energy is never a problem in space. I do not see this, however, as a feasible resource. It is either incredibly expensive, experimental, or dangerous to transmit power through the air, otherwise this method would likely already be used. I'm not saying it's not a GOOD idea, I'm just saying it's impractical. There is also the issue of the amount of volume (space?) that an object can take up. A large orbital object may block or deflect the path of other satellites.
Answer to thoughtful question:
3. Honestly, I don't think anything will solve the energy crisis. Humans keep reproducing, and we keep using resources faster than they can be replenished. Going by the logic that there will be more humans, we should be using resources faster and faster as time goes on. Unless someone finds out how to make a thermodynamics violating perpetual motion machine, without doing something like, you know, blowing up the universe, I believe that we have no chance of finding enough energy sources to fit our needs.
Over-analysis of random question:
DeleteThe correct term is strike through. Yes, I have unfortunately been reduced to nitpicking.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteYou forgot an article link... so I'm just running off of what you wrote in the summary. I did not know that electricity can be sent wirelessly. I assume that the method is kind of dangerous though (In my mind I'm picturing Zeus aiming a lightning bolt at an antenna). If there is not a safe way to send down the energy from the solar panels, then it is kind of pointless. While space solar power is 24/7 how much energy does it produce? Solar panels at the moment are not that efficient and cost a lot to make (monetary or energy wise). I'm not too ready to jump the gun and call this the solution to our energy vampire habits yet.
Answer to Thoughtful Question:
1. Look at my opinion to see some of the answer to this question. In addition to what is written in "Opinion," there is also the problem of having satellites floating around. There is always that chance that one comes crashing down on us or interferes with an object in space. The resources and energy used for each satellite might also outweigh the gains.
Answer to Thoughtless Question:
Because if we didn't indicate that the question isn't serious, I would answer it instead of one of the serious question for each comment day.
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteCan I just take a moment to say how awesome those solar panels look?Their design is surprisingly creative and artistic for something no one is going to see in space. But anyways, I think this would be a great solution to the problem involving solar panels. Hasn't it always been the fact that they can't produce energy at night? So now that we're sending them into space the problem is solved right? I just can't help but think that this solution is too simple and someone should have already figured it out by now... Also, would these solar panels disrupt cell phone and television satellites already in space? I feel like we already have too much technology floating around the earth, and adding more will just cause imbalance. Otherwise, if these things can actually produce sufficient amounts of energy and don't come crashing down on us, then I think they are a great scientific contribution.
Answer to Thoughtful Question:
3. No, I do not believe this will completely eradicate our energy problems, but it is a good start if it actually works. We use such copious amounts of energy, that at times I feel we will never be able to completely match how much energy we produce with how much we use. Maybe there's a powerful sustainable energy source, like the Tesseract from The Avengers, and Loki is just hiding it from us... Who knows.
I have a PhD in engineering and have worked for gas and electric companies, and other energy intensive industries, my whole career. Let's take a little closer look at this idea.
ReplyDeleteThis says that this energy source will solve the energy crisis that we are having now.
Well, it sounds good but it won't work that way.
1) The energy cost of a rocket ship that could put one of these power generators into orbit, combined with the cost of the solar power generator itself, would (today) exceed the energy that it would be able to produce for us. It would thus be "better" for the environment if we didn't do it!
In general, the equation "too expensive" = "more energy intensive and hence worse for the environment" holds true. Someday maybe we'll find cheaper ways to put things in orbit. But I'm afraid that's decades away, at least.
2) The amount of power we can actually transmit wirelessly today is very small, and we can only do it over very small distances. Again, this is a technology problem that we might over come some day, but I suspect this solution is also decades away at least.
People have been trying to develop wireless power sources to run small UAVs (unmanned air vehicles) in recent years. In this situation the required power level that must be transmitted, and the distance that the power must be transmitted, are both tiny compared to what must be done to transmit power back down from an orbiting platform. And we can't even make the wireless UAV work yet.....
Wireless power transmission will probably have to occur using lasers, as opposed to the kind of wireless wavelengths we use for things like cell phones. Lasers are a "line of sight" mode of transmission so you'd almost certainly loose power transmission efficiency on cloudy days. Laser aiming and beam steering technology exists, so we could hit an intended spot on the ground (power receiver) if we wanted to (just don't stick your finger in that beam!).
Solve the rocket ship cost problem and the wireless transmission problem, and this might become a partial power source for us. I would have to go do some calculations to estimate how much power is really possible in outer space, because I'm much more familiar with solar energy at ground level. But solar is a diffuse form of energy. To power our civilization this way, we'd probably need so many of these in space that the sky would darken from it.
This isn't ever going to be a major energy source for us.
btw, if you're interested in an "alternate" energy source that makes a whole lot of sense (as in cost effective, energy efficient, etc), take a look at garbage and bio-mass powered co-generation, where a garbage burning power plant is coupled with a district heating and cooling pond. The Swiss have been doing it for decades and it works marvelously well.
DeleteI've worked in gas, oil, and coal fired power generating stations, and also in experimental garbage burning stations. Coal is by far the dirtiest, nastiest thing to burn of the whole bunch, definitely moreso than garbage. It's no harder to scrub clean the combustion gas from a garbage burning plant, than it is to scrub a coal plant. Garbage powered co-gen coupled with district heating and cooling makes so much sense, all the way around, that it's hard to believe we aren't doing a lot more of it.
Basic idea: burn house hold garbage from cities to run a conventional steam power plant that generates electricity. Then dump the "waste" heat from this plant into a district heating and cooling pond and circulate the water in pipes through cities, which greatly reduces energy consumption to heat and cool buildings and homes all year long. See this for example.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heating
Garbage burning plants are used in Europe but sadly they never took off in the US, essentially because public opinion was against them. Sad indeed that so many people are so ignorant about technology. This would reduce cost, which means it would reduce our net energy consumption, and in turn it would reduce pollution.