Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site umcp-cs.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!zben
From: zben@umcp-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Space Solar Power
Message-ID: <3408@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Oct-83 00:06:27 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3408
Posted: Fri Oct 28 00:06:27 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 31-Oct-83 07:42:42 EST
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 17

[From the virtual flamethrower of ZBEN]
 The most cogent argument I have heard against the satellite solar power
idea is the resultant increase in heat pollution.  Thats right.  Those
big solar panels out there are tantamount to increasing the absorption
of solar power by the earth.  The fact that it is organized as electricity
and will be used to do useful work is only a local eddy; eventually every
watt we pull down from space will (by the 2nd law of thermo) be released
as heat upon the earth.  In the Larry Niven "Known Space" series the
Pierson's Puppeteers solved the problem in a unique way: they moved
their planet to another orbit farther from its sun.
 I think the solar satellites are yet another government give-away to the
high-tech aerospace industries.  We have plenty of desert right here on
earth, with the advantage of breathable air for the repairmen.
 Even if we set up the collectors in the desert, it will have a second-order
effect on local heat flows.  It would be equivalent to transporting some
amount of death valley's heat right into downtown L.A....
zben        ...seismo!umcp-cs!zben          zben@umd2.ARPA