Lunar Solar Power Generation Is A Worthwhile Alternative
There no doubts that solar power generation is a primary source of power in the commercial world and it is largely instrumental in providing everyone with a means to attain the highest standards of living. Keeping this in mind, there have been different options suggested with regard to solar power generation, and a novel one is that of lunar solar power generation.
Satellites Or The Moon
According to Peter Glaser, who works with Arthur D. Little Inc., it was proposed as an alternative that a giant satellite be placed in geosynchronous orbit above the Earth which would then gather solar power out of space itself in a dependable manner. However, another proposal with regard to lunar solar power generation was to collect solar power straight from the moon, through the functioning of twelve centimeters' wavelength microwaves that would be used to provide solar power to the entire world. The benefits of using microwaves are that they can pass through clouds, rain, dust and even smoke.
Thus, whether lunar solar power generation involves the geosynchronous placement of a satellite, or if you get solar power straight from the moon, the power will need to be supplied to rectennas at night, which could be located in strategic places all around the world and thus provide as much as two kilowatts of electric power per person, and which would be sufficient for the expected population of the world in 2050, which should reach as high a figure as ten billion people.
There is a lot of savings too in terms of space required and with lunar solar power generation systems, the space required is a mere five percent of what is needed to generate an equivalent amount of electricity when using terrestrial solar-array technologies of the same capacity. Furthermore, the cost of rectennas would be a mere 0.004 dollars per kWoh and that is also a mere one tenth of what current commercial electricity costs.
Other advantages of choosing lunar solar power generation include not needing to use in any significant manner the resources of our Earth, and the solar power satellites will do the job admirably well, and according to projections, they should be able to deliver about ten thousand kWoh of electric energy to our Earth in the next thirty years. And, it would only cost sixty dollars to sell electricity at 0.01 dollars per kWoh and this cost includes buying components to be used in power satellites and also shipping them into space after assembly and it even covers cost of maintenance etc.
