Post-9/11 oil prices have jumped from $15/barrel to now $80/barrel in less than a decade. According to a report commissioned by the Pentagon Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) can help to slow down climate change and also reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This SBSP was first invented in the United States almost 40 years ago. Essentially the central idea of SBSP is very simple (place very large solar arrays into continuously and intensely sunlit Earth orbit (1,366 watts/m2), collect gigawatts of electrical energy, electromagnetically beam it to Earth, and receive it on the surface for use either as baseload power via direct connection to the existing electrical grid, conversion into manufactured synthetic hydrocarbon fuels, or as low-intensity broadcast power beamed directly to consumers). Do you know a single kilometer-wide band of geosynchronous earth orbit experiences enough solar flux in one year to almost equal the amount of energy present within all known recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today? Amazing isn’t it? This amount of energy from SBSP means that there is a huge potential for reducing global warming for those nations who construct and possess a SBSP capability. But, unfortunately it is not as simple as it looks. Why? This is because it is extremely expensive to get the solar power unit into space (it is anywhere between $500,000 and $1 billion). Hopefully, with time these SBSP units will become more economically viable, and thus help in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Source
