The views and opinions expressed by those in support of, and in opposition to, the SPS concept represent widely different philosophies and ideological beliefs. The contributions of distributed and centralized technologies, accountability of industry and government, participatory democracy, the price and availability of nonrenewable fuels, the environmental and health impacts of alternative energy technologies, and the degree of international cooperation in the development of the SPS will influence the future course of the SPS program. The SPS appears to involve technologies which are at opposite ends of the scale of distributed terrestrial solar technologies. But the differentiation of solar technologies according to the scales of their conversion and distribution systems introduces artificial barriers which may hinder rather than advance the development of the most appropriate solar technologies to meet end-use requ i rements. Whether energy conversion and distribution should be centralized or dispersed will be determined by the energy intensiveness of the end-use, and a broad range of other factors. There is no obvious difference in the potential benefits of distributed and centralized solar technologies provided that economic, environmental, and societal criteria are met. Perceptions of these technologies by individuals, communities, regions, and countries will differ at various stages of technology development. Preconceptions regarding the most appropriate solar technologies, based on political or ideological considerations, or alternative value systems for applications in industrialized or developing countries, may compromise the application of the most effective solar technologies to meet specific end uses. Assuming that there will always be energy-intensive regions where the solar insolation availability is less than the energy required for specific end uses, there will be continued requirements for utility-provided electrical power. There are concerns that an SPS program effort will reduce the funds available for the development of terrestrial solar applications. This certainly is not the case now (fiscal 1980, $800 million is allocated to the terrestrial solar programs and $6 million for the SPS program), or even under the planned SPS ground-based exploratory program. The longer-term SPS development program will be strongly influenced by the results of the ground-based exploratory development program, by the assessments of economic, environmental and societal issues, and the level of international participation. To control the overall risk, the SPS program should be time-phased, with the "economic" purpose of each program phase being to obtain information that will permit deliberate decisions to be made whether to continue the program or to terminate it. The SPS integrates many different generic technologies ranging from solar cells to electric propulsion which are being developed to meet a wide variety of terrestrial and space program objectives. The SPS is a sufficiently complex system so that new technologies which, based on past experience, are very likely to be developed, will further enhance the overall SPS feasibility. For example, in the 1930's, jet propulsion or rocket propulsion were not considered a serious competitor to the internal combustion engine and the propeller of an airplane. Twenty years later, the commercial jet airplane was shrinking global travel time and distance and the era of space exploration was about to change the course of human history.
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