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Huh, that's actually not bad. That makes the idea of connecting Asia/Africa/Europe with the Americas for 24-hour solar power seem doable. I assume it would be
by elihu 6y ago
Huh, that's actually not bad. That makes the idea of connecting Asia/Africa/Europe with the Americas for 24-hour solar power seem doable. I assume it would be tremendously expensive to build, but also have substantial benefits long into the future.
- mtalhaashraf 6y agoThe level of dependency on others and the associated risks would likely discourage this
- elihu 6y agoThat's true to a degree; if someone were able to cripple half the world's economies just by disabling a cable then yes, that's a serious issue. On the other hand, if all the involved countries maintained backup power (i.e. gas or coal generation) that could be turned on in an emergency but otherwise unused, then the risks could be mitigated. Backup generators would of course be expensive to build and maintain, but if they just sit idle 99% of the time maybe the cost would be acceptable. I assume a fossil fuel power plant that just sits idle could last a very long time.