ernments, of major corporations and of esoteric technologies that the public opinion polls reveal. The popularity of small-scale solar energy systems is enhanced by their decentralizing and self-reliant qualities, by the prospect they seem to offer of independence not only from limited and polluting fossil fuels, but also from industry and government control over energy supplies. Their appeal reflects the evident desire on the part of a growing number of Americans to be more directly involved in meeting their own energy needs at individual and local levels, using technologies that they themselves can understand and manage. Amory Lovins, author of the influential and surprisingly prophetic Self-Energy Paths (73), has been aptly described as “the intellectual's Ralph Nader, the true champion of all consumers who wish to do more than consume” (74). The sociological significance of the 1970s is thus becoming clear. The events of that decade brought about an unmistakable transformation in the perceptions, aspirations, attitudes and beliefs of the American people as a whole. It is a transformation that will have profound and predictable effects upon the ways the nation adjusts to the “new scarcities” of the 1980s. The early almost-exclusive emphasis on large- scale energy production is giving way to a more balanced recognition of the prospects for substantial conservation and the legitimacy of dispersed solar-energy systems as a source of new supplies. The U.S. is in transition toward a diversified mix of energy systems, of disparate scale and quality, deployed in a more regional approach to energy production and use, one that respects and reflects the varying needs, resources and traditions of American communities (75). The prospects have brightened considerably for a relatively successful short-term adjustment to increasingly expensive oil and gas supplies. The sense of urgency that would justify costly public investments in new energy supply systems seems unlikely to materialize during this decade. Over the longer term, however, when industrial societies come to face in earnest the enormous challenges represented by their 90% to 95% dependency on fossil fuels, the picture becomes less clear, and the SPS concept is likely to be given more serious consideration. THE LONGER-TERM OUTLOOK FOR SPACE SOLAR POWER During the first six months of 1981, U. S. net production of electrical power totaled 1,123,069 million kilowatt-hours, of which 52.1% was generated by coal, 9.7% by oil, 14.5% by natural gas, 11.4% by uranium, 12.0% by hydroelectric dams, and the remaining 0.3% by such “unconventional” fuels as geothermal and wood wastes (76). Thus, almost 88% of U.S. electrical capacity is still being produced from depletable fuels, for which substitutes will eventually have to be developed. There are currently on the horizon only three long-term alternatives that appear capable of producing base-load electricity on a large and concentrated scale from renewable sources: breeder reactors, nuclear fusion, and the satellite power system. Both of the nuclear alternatives have been under intensive exploration for a great many years ; they have been the recipients of large federal allocations; and they have acquired powerful political constituencies that can be expected to lobby effectively for continuing support long after the initial promise has faded. Unmistakable evidence of this political reality can be seen in the large allocations that the Reagan administration requested, even while appealing for austerity, to support the development of both nuclear fission and the breeder reactor program (46). Satellite power, on the other hand, is a new and unfamiliar concept. The SUNSAT
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