Re: Really cheap energy

On 9/8/2010 4:32 PM, Wayne Eddy wrote:
> Sounds interesting, but I wonder how it would cope with a big storm?
>
> On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 4:07 AM, Keith Henson <[email protected]
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
>     http://www.slideshare.net/chris8649/stratosolar-overview
>     http://www.zinzzu.com/stratosolar.html
>
>     If this works as advertised, there will be no economic reason to
>     build SBSP.

Wayne--

I'm more worried about normal high-altitude winds.
While 20 km high is pretty much above the jet streams,
I'm sure there's still a fair amount of wind.  As pictured,
the mirror apparatus would be torn to bits.  But maybe
one could have smaller mirrors, built into some sort of
parafoil kite?

I see bigger problems with losses in the light pipe.
The plan seems to be to have a flexible tube lined
with reflective material to guide the solar radiation
down to steam turbines or whatever on the ground.
Most of the light would have to reflect off the sides
many times, losing at least a few percent of its
intensity at each reflection.  So nothing makes it
to the ground, and the light pipe melts.  There may
be solutions to this too, but they're going to be
tricky.

				---David