Beispiel für Innovation: 24/7 Solarenergie aus dem All
Es ist für mich unerlässlich, dass Technik und Innovation helfen, den Klimawandel zu bekämpfen, nicht Verbot und Verzicht. Deshalb heute ein Beispiel: Solarfarmen im All. Das ist kein Witz, wie ich kürzlich gelernt habe:
- “Solar power is notoriously unreliable. The sun may be the solar system’s biggest energy source, putting out more than humanity could ever hope to use, but transforming that into usable power comes up against real-world problems of unreliable weather, a lack of ground coverage and – most troublesome of all – the dark of the night.” – bto: was natürlich gerne verdrängt wird in der hiesigen Diskussion.
- “Even if solar were to produce 100pc of the electricity grid’s needs, without a revolution in energy storage the energy source would not be able to provide power during the hours that Britain faces away from the sun. In the winter, that can be more than half of the day.” – bto: Auch das stimmt. Es kann gar nicht funktionieren.
- “But what if we could have solar panels that always face the sun, that are immune to the vagaries of British Isles weather, and which could never be accused of blighting the countryside? That is the idea behind out-there proposals for a series of giant solar farms floating in space, which are now being considered by the Government. Experts say the systems – each one able to produce power equivalent to a nuclear plant – would provide 24-hour reliable energy and account for a quarter of Britain’s electricity needs.” – bto: Das nenne ich eine echte Innovation.
- “Japan has been studying the technology since the 1980s, when scientists at Kyoto University started to crack one of the key challenges of transmitting power over long distances by flying an aeroplane powered with microwave energy. But a combination of cheaper solar panels, initiatives to solve the climate crisis, developments in robotics and – crucially – cheaper space launches, have started to make the idea seem viable, even competitive with terrestrial energy generation.” – bto: Für mich ist das ein Beweis für Innovationskraft – leider in Deutschland nicht mehr populär.
- “The cost of solar cells has fallen by 85pc in the last decade and the cost of putting a satellite in space, thanks to reusable rockets from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has been on a similar downward spiral. The amount needed to put a kilogram in space sat at almost $20,000 (£14,670) between 1970 and 2000. Since then it has moved closer to $2,000.” – bto: Auch das beweist, dass es lösbar ist.
- “Nonetheless, drawing solar power from space would be a gargantuan engineering challenge. The Government-commissioned report, authored by Frazer-Nash and delivered last month, proposes a 1,700-metre wide structure – more than double the height of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building. It would weigh 2,000 tonnes, or roughly six Boeing jets, and orbit the earth at 35,000 km.” – bto: Das ist angesichts der möglichen Energieerzeugung ein lohnendes Unterfangen.
- “The structure would effectively comprise two giant mirrors reflecting light onto solar panels, and then beaming it to earth using high-frequency radio waves designed to minimise the power lost during transmission. At that point, it would be captured using what is essentially a giant fishing net, full of antennas. Diffraction would mean the net would have to be around 13km by 6.7km, or the size of 12,000 football pitches.” – bto: verglichen mit dem Flächenverbrauch von Solar- und Windkraft der traditionellen Art ebenfalls ein Gewinn.
- “(…) despite the huge size, a receiving net would be around a third of the size of a ground-based solar farm that could produce the same power, and 3pc the size of an equivalent wind farm. As for the radio wave transporting that energy, it is expected to be safe – a quarter of the sun’s power at the equator.” – bto: Ich bin sicher, dass das kommen wird, aber eben von Staaten, die in diese Richtung denken.
- “The project would be expensive (…) Frazer-Nash has predicted that five systems would cost around £16.3bn to research and then launch, although it claims this would be cheaper per megawatt hour than nuclear or gas plants.Each system would be able to provide around two gigawatts, equivalent to a nuclear power station. The researchers say a system could be in the sky by 2042.” – bto: Ähnlich wie beim Mondprogramm der 1960er-Jahre sollten wir Solarenergie aus dem All zur Priorität machen.
- “Japan made space-based solar a national priority in 2008, and China has said it plans to launch test stations in the first half of this decade. The European Space Agency and US researchers are also examining the technology.” – bto: Verzicht ist nicht die Lösung, sondern Innovation.
