[ExI] Small scale solar payback time (was Re: Planetary defense)

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Tue May 17 19:01:23 UTC 2011


On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 11:01:44AM -0700, Keith Henson wrote:
> On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 10:44 AM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> snip
> 
> > The fast payback would be an incredible economic bonanza.
> 
> http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/uom-nsp051611.php
> 
> It might be here.

This doesn't change anything, unless you can have desktop-sized
devices extruding nanopatterned sheets acting as rectennas for
UV/VIS/NIR from cheap/ubiquitous precursors. You would still need
robotic platforms spinning up the entire neighborhood with rectenna
nanowebs, with convenient ways to access the power.

The problem is harder than it looks. Hence the time scale of
40 years of sustained, expensive deployment to reach 80% of 20 TW.
40 years is a long time even in wall clock land.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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