Go Greener Tips

The time to find alternative sources of energy for our planet is growing shorter every day. Gas approaching and exceeding $4 a gallon is just the latest in the series of warnings that something needs to be done fast about our addiction to oil. In addition, home heating bills are at records levels this year with no end in sight for rising prices. We need more energy now, and the only ways to get it are for us to start thinking outside of the box. Fortunately, people other than scientists have begun to tackle the problem and do something about them.

Space based solar power or solar panels for electricity has been talked about in theory for more than a few decades now. It revolves around the idea of positioning constellations of large solar panels in space or on the moon that can capture energy from the sun and transmit it back to earth for use. Each solar panel could be as much as one mile wide in size, or more.

Why would these solar panels have to be positioned in space? Two reasons.

1) The disadvantage of solar panels on earth is that approximately half of every day is without sunlight, meaning that no energy is collected. In space, the panels can be positioned so that they are always in view of the sun and energy can be collected 24 hours a day.

2) As the sun is filtered by the atmosphere of the earth, it can lose a great deal of its energy – as much as eighty percent. And on days when it’s cloudy, it can lose even more. Space has no atmosphere, thus we could practically collect the full energy quotient from the sun.

Such a space based solar power system project would require billions of dollar in investment. But if some innovative company or government does take the initiative, its implementation could revolutionize how we get our energy.

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