[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

The most maddening, irritating thing about space-based solar collectors is that the whole thing IS doable. It's not impossible, or even impractical. The technology does exist, and whatever else might be required could be developed along the way. It could be done. Dammit, it should be done. But as far as I can see, the only people aside from private industry, i.e. governments, who can do it, won't do it. As I've noted before, it's too long-term - it will take decades to show a real return, even though that return will be several hundred percent (so anyone in their early twenties investing in a solar power company now would be well-advised to deposit their stock certificates in a vault and forget about them for 20 years minimum). Governments - particularly ours - are keen on short-term fixes, as we've seen too frequently in the last decade or so.

Before any government will tackle such a project seriously, the underlying political structure must be completely changed. Politicans simply aren't in power long enough to see such things through, so they don't care. They should be made to stay where they are for as long as it takes - and if it takes their entire lifetime, that's just too bad. Solar power is about the only really practical and safe alternative to fossil fuels which, let's face it, are running out. But it can't be done unless politics are either completely transformed, or left out of it altogether.

The figures in terms of the energy available - even though it's only a tiny fraction of the Sun's total output - rapidly become so large they start to lose meaning. Zero pollution. Zero generation cost - the Sun burns for free. For all intents and purposes, it's an eternal power source; the Sun's energy output will likely show no significant change for 5,000,000,000 years at a minimum, by which time it won't matter one way or the other.

Perhaps the energy companies themselves should foot the bill, instead of paying the proposed windfall taxes. And they are in it for the long haul, they have to be. The only problem then is to figure out how to prevent them from screwing everyone even more thoroughly than they are doing now...

Opposed to any government staying in power indefinitely to see it through, I believe a better idea for a project that would be this expensive and relatively long term, a referendum should take place. If, hopefully, the answer was yes it would take the politics out of it.