FYI,

"An Energy Fix Written in the Stars"
By Ben Bova
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/10/10/AR2008101002450.html?sub=new

: You're heading into some rough times as you move into the White
: House, Mr. Future President, what with the economy in recession,
: financial markets in turmoil, global warming, terrorism, war and
: soaring energy prices. But I can offer you a tip for dealing with
: that last issue, at least: Look to the stars.

: That's right. You can use the powerful technology we've forged over
: a half-century of space exploration to solve one major
: down-to-Earth problem -- and become the most popular president
: since John F. Kennedy in the process.

: Right now, the United States is shelling out about $700 billion a
: year for foreign oil. With world demand for energy increasing, gas
: prices will head toward $10 per gallon during your administration
: -- unless you make some meaningful changes. That's where space
: technology can help -- and create new jobs, even whole new
: industries, at the same time.

: You'll have to make some hard choices on energy. Nuclear power
: doesn't emit greenhouse gases, but it has radioactive wastes.
: Hydrogen fuels burn cleanly, but hydrogen is expensive to produce
: and hard to distribute by pipeline. Wind power works in special
: locations, but most people don't want huge, noisy wind turbines in
: their backyards.

: Solar energy is a favorite of environmentalists, but it works only
: when the sun is shining. But that's the trick. There is a place
: where the sun never sets, and a way to use solar energy for power
: generation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year: Put the solar cells in
: space, in high orbits where they'd be in sunshine all the time.

: You do it with the solar power satellite (SPS), a concept invented
: by Peter Glaser in 1968. The idea is simple: You build large
: assemblages of solar cells in space, where they convert sunlight
: into electricity and beam it to receiving stations on the ground.

: The solar power satellite is the ultimate clean energy source. It
: doesn't burn an ounce of fuel. And a single SPS could deliver five
: to 10 gigawatts of energy to the ground continually. Consider that
: the total electrical-generation capacity of the entire state of
: California is 4.4 gigawatts.

: Conservative estimates have shown that an SPS could deliver
: electricity at a cost to the consumer of eight to 10 cents per
: kilowatt hour. That's about the same as costs associated with
: conventional power generation stations. And operating costs would
: drop as more orbital platforms are constructed and the price of
: components, such as solar voltaic cells, is reduced. Solar power
: satellites could lower the average taxpayer's electric bills while
: providing vastly more electricity.

: They would be big -- a mile or more across. Building them in space
: would be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one: We already
: know how to construct the International Space Station, which is
: about the size of a football field. And the SPS doesn't require any
: new inventions. We have the technology at hand.

: Basically, an SPS needs solar voltaic cells to convert sunlight
: into electricity and microwave transmitters to beam the energy to
: the ground. We've been using solar cells to power spacecraft since
: the 1950s. Solar cells are in our pocket calculators, wristwatches
: and other everyday gadgetry. You can buy them over the Internet.
: Microwave transmitters are also a well-developed technology.
: There's one in almost every kitchen in the nation, in the heart of
: our microwave ovens.

: Some people worry about beaming gigawatts of microwave energy to
: the ground. But the microwave beams would be spread over a wide
: area, so they wouldn't be intense enough to harm anyone. Birds
: could fly through the thinly spread beams without harm.
: Nevertheless, it would be best for the receiving stations to be set
: up in unpopulated areas. The deserts of the American Southwest
: would be an ideal location. You could gain votes in Arizona, New
: Mexico, Nevada and California!

: It's ironic, but when solar power satellites become commonplace,
: the desert wastes of the Sahara and the Middle East could become
: important energy centers even after the last drop of oil has been
: pumped out of them. SPS receiving stations could also be built on
: platforms at sea; Japan has already looked into that possibility.

: I admit, solar power satellites won't be cheap. Constructing one
: would cost about as much as building a nuclear power plant: on the
: order of $1 billion. That money, though, needn't come from the
: taxpayers; it could be raised by the private capital market. Oil
: companies invest that kind of money every year in exploring for new
: oil fields. But the risk involved in building an SPS, as with any
: space operation, is considerable, and it could be many years or
: even decades before an investment begins to pay off. So how can we
: get private investors to put their money into solar power
: satellites?

: This nation tackled a similar situation about a century ago, when
: faced with building big hydroelectric dams. Those dams were on the
: cutting edge of technology at the time, and they were risky
: endeavors that required hefty funding. The Hoover Dam, the Grand
: Coulee Dam and others were built with private investment -- backed
: by long-term, low-interest loans guaranteed by the U.S. government.
: They changed the face of the American West, providing irrigation
: water and electrical power that stimulated enormous economic
: growth. Phoenix and Las Vegas wouldn't be on the map except for
: those dams.

: Solar power satellites could be funded through the same sort of
: government-backed loans. Washington has made such loan guarantees
: in the past to help troubled corporations such as Chrysler and
: Lockheed. Why not use the same technique to encourage private
: investment in solar power satellites? If we can bail out Wall
: Street, why not spend a fraction of that money to light up Main
: Street?

: What's more, a vigorous SPS program would provide a viable market
: for private companies, such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, that are
: developing rocket launchers. Like most new industries, these
: companies are caught in a conundrum: They need a market that offers
: a payoff, but no market will materialize until they can prove that
: their product works. The fledgling aircraft industry faced this
: dilemma in the 1920s. The federal government helped provide a
: market by giving it contracts to deliver mail by air, which
: eventually led to today's commercial airline industry.

: A vigorous SPS program could provide the market that the newborn
: private space-launch industry needs. And remember, a rocket
: launcher that can put people and payloads into orbit profitably can
: also fly people and cargo across the Earth at hypersonic speed.
: Anywhere on Earth can be less than an hour's flight away. That's a
: market worth trillions of dollars a year.

: It will take foresight and leadership to start a solar power
: satellite program. That's why, Mr. Future President, I believe that
: you should make it NASA's primary goal to build and operate a
: demonstration model SPS, sized to deliver a reasonably impressive
: amount of electrical power -- say, 10 to 100 megawatts -- before
: the end of your second term. Such a demonstration would prove that
: full-scale solar power satellites are achievable. With federal loan
: guarantees, private financing could then take over and build
: satellites that would deliver the gigawatts we need to lower our
: imports of foreign oil and begin to move away from fossil fuels.

: I know that scientists and academics will howl in protest. They
: want to explore the universe and don't care about oil prices or
: building new industries. But remember, they howled against the
: Apollo program, too. They wanted the money for their projects, not
: to send a handful of fighter jocks to the moon. What they failed to
: see was that Apollo produced the technology and the trained teams
: of people that have allowed us to reach every planet in the solar
: system.

: A vigorous SPS program will also produce the infrastructure that
: will send human explorers back to the moon and on to Mars and
: beyond. It could also spur young students' interest in space,
: science and cutting-edge technology.

: Americans are a frontier people at heart. We have a frontier that
: begins a scant hundred miles overhead and contains more riches of
: energy and raw materials than the entire Earth can provide. Mr.
: Future President, if we use these resources wisely, we can assure
: prosperity and peace for the world -- and you have the opportunity
: to write your name in capital letters across the skies.

Mark Reiff