[ExI] Power satellites

[Dan]

--- On Sat, 4/25/09, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/25/09, John K Clark wrote:
> <snip>
> >  You can't know that, in the power satellite
> business we don't even know
> >  what we don't know so nobody can pin a cost
> number on it. About the only thing
> >  we could say with any confidence is that it
> would be the most expensive object
> >  ever made by the human race.
> >
> 
> I agree that there are probably many unknown unknowns in a
> project of
> this scale.
> 
> But the main thing I don't like is the timescale of 15 to
> 50 years.
> How can you guarantee funding and political will for a
> project like that?
> 
> PV cells are improving month by month, becoming cheaper and
> more efficient.
> By 15 years time, I would expect every building to be off
> the grid,
> using spray on PV cells. And who knows what other energy
> improvements
> will come along in that time period.
> 
> By the time it gets half built, people will be wondering
> whether they
> should be spending all this money on a project that is
> looking as
> though it might not be needed after all.

That's probably the best argument against any large scale public works project.  :)

Regards,

Dan