Power From Space - Can it Compete? R. BRYAN ERB * Summary: The world faces a serious energy problem. Two major aspects are: (1) current energy practices are damaging to the environment of the earth, and (2) the provision of energy to the Developing Countries is inadequate for effective economic development. The implementation of renewable energy resources, including the importation of solar power from space, can help relieve the first of these situations. However, the adoption of such sources will, if present trends continue, not take place rapidly enough to avert significant further environmental damage. A useful step to spur the adoption of such sources would be the inclusion in energy pricing of the costs of external and environmental effects. Such an inclusion would reflect the environmentally-friendly nature of renewable sources as compared with most other sources. The credibility of economical importation of solar energy from space has improved in recent years because of advances in the efficiency ofphotovoltaic cells and in the capacity to manufacture such cells. However, the viability of power importation is strongly dependent on the costs of transport to orbit. When such costs have been substantially reduced, power importation from space will initially serve niche markets where the current cost of energy is high. Wide-scale implementation could, in time, aid the needs of the Developing Countries where energy prices are high and relatively few choices are available. Introduction Energy is important, indeed vital, to human civilization. A very substantial flow of energy is essential to support the industrialized and technological economies of the Industrialized Countries. However, our use of large amounts of energy has troubling aspects. We obtain the vast majority of our supply from fossil fuels and the processes involved in the acquisition and use of these fuels have significant side effects which are degrading the quality of our environment and causing injury to human health. Concerns can correctly be raised over at least three aspects of our current energy situation: • Adequacy of the energy supply • Side effects of our present practices for acquiring and using energy • Allocation of supply among various regions of the world. The possibility of supplying clean energy from space to terrestrial locations in need of it has attracted the space community for many years. Whereas the initial * Assistant Director, Canadian Space Station Program. Associate Fellow, AIAA Canadian Space Agency Houston, Texas printed with permission of the IAF
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