NASA CR-2357 Feasilibility Study of an SSPS

TABLE 29 ENERGY CONSUMPTION (EC) DENSITY IN SELECTED INDUSTRIAL AND URBAN AREAS Land Usage in the Receiving Antenna. - The receiving antenna could be compatible with a wide range of land uses, from farming to high-intensity residential, commercial, and industrial uses. This should be kept in mind when decisions regarding its location have to be made. Thus, no matter where the receiving antenna is located, there will be a requirement to transmit its power to the complexes where it is to be used. The cost of the land and of the transmission system will be major factors; low-return land usages, such as farming, will do little to offset their investments, whereas high-intensity uses — for example, in a city center — will offer a large return as well as provide savings vis-a-vis the transmission systems. Present trends in living patterns favor very high-density residential use combined with some industry and considerable commerce. These are ecologically sound in that they are well adapted to mass transit and preserve land for farming and open space. Serious consideration should be given to combining the receiving antenna with the city it is meant to serve. The concept of a single span covering over large cities has been advanced by the inventor of the geodesic dome, Buckminster Fuller, and is presently undergoing experiments. Fuller claims that the geodesic concept results in economies of scale in the sense that the strength-to-weight ratio of large domes increases with, size rather than the opposite. Roofed cities have distinct advantages over conventional ones; for example, there would be complete weather protection resulting in savings in snow removal, less work time lost, fewer vehicular accidents, etc. Fuller claims, for example, that the costs of a 2-mile diameter dome over Manhattan could be recovered in 10 years from the savings

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