Every Sunday, this blog will offer analysis of a paper on space habitation and other related topics. These are my opinions on a weekly scientific paper. They are subject to my perspectives and believes. I am open to debate, so if any reader believes I have misinterpreted something in a paper, please point it out. I'm only a student and learning how to read these papers and interpret them. All quotes are from the paper unless otherwise noted. All papers I review are available for free online.
The End of Easy Energy and What to Do About It, by James Michael Snead, is the very through analysis of today's energy situation that pleads for the and proves, beyond a shadow of doubt, that space solar power is the best way to solve the energy crisis considering our current technologies.
The problem that space solar power is best equipped to solve is this: most alternative fuels require energy to produce them, for example, one needs to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen and biofuels requires energy to run farms. Furthermore, space solar power allows for the on-demand generation of energy (dispatchable energy), whereas wind power and earth based solar power does not. Not only that, but, because of logisical and safety problems, nuclear power would require a ton of political will to implimate on the massive scale ("350 1-GWe (gigawatt-electric) nuclear power plants" built every four years) that the paper calculates. Hydropower would require an equilly massive project with geopolitical tensions increased because of water blackage.
All of these future energy projects are massive, but they must be undertaken. Even if you don't believe in global warming: "With an annual average of about 155 billion BOE [,Barrels of oil equivalent,] through the end of the century, the world would need about 14,100 billion BOE of oil, coal, and natural gas to reach the end of the century. Current proved recoverable reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas total only about 6,000 billion BOE. Expert estimates of additional recoverable reserves optimistically add another 6,000 billion BOE—for example, including nearly 3,000 billion BOE from all oil from oil shale—for a combined total of around 12,000 billion BOE.[Not including methan hydrates] With increasing world energy consumption and if oil, coal, and natural gas continue to provide most of the world’s energy, known and new reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas will be exhausted by the end of the century, if not much earlier". The fact is, we will run out of nonrenewable fuels by the end of the century. If America or any other nation takes the leap and builds Space Solar Power, they will be the leaders in 2100, free from the struggle of the last drop of oil.
But, make no mistake, space solar power would be a massive project, requiring 224 platforms each weighting atleast 20,000 to be built; each would be about 5 miles long. A problem because we won't have the space shuttle in less then a year; space solar power would require a huge investment, not only in the platforms, but in space infastucture. But, the energy output could be multplied by using the ground based rectenna as a site to grow algae to make into biodiesel.
But, just to underscore the massive amount of rescources we will need to survive when oil runs out, "In the United States, 375,000 sq. mi.—about 12% of the continental United States—would be directly placed into use for renewable energy generation to meet this paper’s projection of 2100 energy needs". This is huge, but space solar power is the best use of land because it only takes up 0.6% of the United States' land, yet it will provide 70% of the nation's dispatchable energy needs in 2100.
But, this paper is not a soapbox for space solar power alone, it suggests the aggresive search for more oil to ease the transition into these new energy systems, conservation of energy, the premptive switch to renewable energy sources before the oil runs out and reaserch into renewable energy. But we must do this, "The total U.S. 2100 need for about 28 billion BOE per year equates to 162 Q-BTU per year, or 10% of the world’s total... in the form of oil, the world would need about 140,000 super tankers each year by 2100 while the U.S. would need about 14,000 super tankers each year" to keep to lights on.
Furthermore, the power trasmittion back down to earth is safe, at around the same frequency as cell phone, the skin would only warm if one where to step into the beam. So, this is not a really big laser, nor could it be an effective weapon (Sir, the enemy seems to be tanning in the death ray). Yes, cell phone signals are not the best thing for your body, but a human will not burn in the ray. Plus, the radiation is non-ionizing.
This paper is a must read for the space community. Please check out the author's website, http://mikesnead.net/, and read the paper, it is over 120 pages and has so much information that can not be placed in a blog post. Once again, I'm sorry for this post being late.
