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The middle of a large desert is effectively free land, and perfect for solar. I don't see how space could ever be more economical in any respect. If beaming ene
by pulvinar 2y ago
The middle of a large desert is effectively free land, and perfect for solar. I don't see how space could ever be more economical in any respect. If beaming energy gets cheaper than transmission lines, we can beam it point-to-point on the earth too.
- JoeAltmaier 2y agoRead more. Atmosphere and night tank ground-based solar by maybe 80% of what's possible. And, sand is a terrible thing to operate any efficient optics around. No, the desert is a fairly bad choice. Sure, it's kinda bright there, part of the day. That's about the only thing on the plus side.
- pulvinar 2y agoThe vast majority of telescopes are ground-based even though space is optimal for seeing, because the economics favor the ground by a wide margin. Same with solar: if you get 3 times the light in space per cell but it costs 100+ times as much to install and use, it's pointless. And there's more than enough desert that isn't sand dunes. Even the Sahara is only 25% dunes.