Boiling Water In Space

[Scout101]

over the distance involved, how is power being transmitted to Earth? Still haven't seen much of any answer to that, assuming the power were to somehow be generated by this device...

 

[All Seeing Eye]

over the distance involved, how is power being transmitted to Earth? Still haven't seen much of any answer to that,

The answer to that was in my original post and has been there since I first posted it. not sure how you missed it:

The electricity generated from the turbines is converted into a focused beam of Microwaves which is fired towards Earth and collected by an orbital collector and beamed down to Earth.

To ensure a full beam reaches Earth there could be several 'collector relays' along the way which convert the mircowaves to power and create a new focused microwave beam. power will be lost en-route but power should still reach earth.

Maybe one day we will have batteries that can store enormous amounts of power. The powerplants all work together to charge a large battery which is transferred to Earth orbital periodically where it beams the power down. As one battery leaves for Earth another fresh battery arrives for charging.

So I'd like an apology for being accused of not giving an answer to that when it is in fact in the OP.

I then discussed shortening the journey and keeping the majority of the power by instead powering a space based colony:

Another use for such a powerplant would be a space based colony (something like jupiter Station on Star Trek capable of holding a large number of people).
Perhaps a space based colony orbiting Venus, it would be closer to the powerplant and would gain more power from it.

I then discussed making it even more efficient by having the space based colony and powerplant connected together at the same location:

Hmmmmmmm. I mentioned in the OP about a space based colony having the energy beamed to them, I never considered having the powerplant actually attached to the space colony itself! The living area will be sheltered from the Sun of course.

 

[Gepard]

Maybe one day we will have batteries that can store enormous amounts of power. The powerplants all work together to charge a large battery which is transferred to Earth orbital periodically where it beams the power down. As one battery leaves for Earth another fresh battery arrives for charging.

How is this in any way more efficient than just using solar panels on Earth?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Maybe one day we will have batteries that can store enormous amounts of power. The powerplants all work together to charge a large battery which is transferred to Earth orbital periodically where it beams the power down. As one battery leaves for Earth another fresh battery arrives for charging.

How is this in any way more efficient than just using solar panels on Earth?

More energy produced, more energy stored. Transferred through space easily with minimal required fuel. But do keep in mind my words were: "Maybe one day we will have batteries that can store enormous amounts of power."

As I've already said, this technology would benefit a space based colony rather than Earth so we're kind of going backwards in the discussion here talking about getting power to Earth because it's now irrelevant.

 

[Gepard]

More energy produced, more energy stored.

Do you have any evidence or calculations of any kind to back up that this would be more efficient? That you're not just pulling assertions out of thin air like in every other Sci-Tech thread you've started?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

More energy produced, more energy stored.

Do you have any evidence or calculations of any kind to back up that this would be more efficient? That you're not just pulling assertions out of thin air like in every other Sci-Tech thread you've started?

What produces more power on Earth and is more efficient at energy production, steam powered turbines in coal/nuclear power stations or solar panels??

In space there's no Earth gravity affecting the turbines meaning they will move even quicker and more effectively than in a gravity environment, obviously therefore producing far more power output.

In the case of the batteries you only need fuel to transfer the batteries to and from Earth and with it being in space you don't need a lot of fuel to do it. You therefore produce more energy and use less fuel than you would with an Earth based system.
You save fuel, have a free energy device creating as much power as you want depending how big you build it and simply transfer that stored energy.

It's logical to assume that in 1 year the space based powerplant would produce more power for Earth or colony than inefficient solar panels.

I rest my case.

 

[Scout101]

You want an apology? You stated that you'd just beam the energy to Earth using microwaves, and I asked more detailed follow-up questions, to which you just repeated the original premise. Let's try again.

How will you get that energy to Earth at any sort of efficiency level, or where 100% of the energy isn't lost before it arrives? Power transmission is a bitch like that, even regular power lines lose a certain percentage (can't remember the number off the top of my head) of all the energy they try to distribute from the power plants. Add in literally astronomical distances, radiation, moving targets, and the possibility of other planets or the moon in the way on a regular basis, and I think it goes beyond just being a 'concern' into something you're really have to plan for upfront, rather than blowing off in favor of focusing on the turbine. If the energy can't GET anywhere, no reason to create it...

 

[All Seeing Eye]

You want an apology? You stated that you'd just beam the energy to Earth using microwaves, and I asked more detailed follow-up questions, to which you just repeated the original premise. Let's try again.

How will you get that energy to Earth at any sort of efficiency level, or where 100% of the energy isn't lost before it arrives? Power transmission is a bitch like that, even regular power lines lose a certain percentage (can't remember the number off the top of my head) of all the energy they try to distribute from the power plants. Add in literally astronomical distances, radiation, moving targets, and the possibility of other planets or the moon in the way on a regular basis, and I think it goes beyond just being a 'concern' into something you're really have to plan for upfront, rather than blowing off in favor of focusing on the turbine. If the energy can't GET anywhere, no reason to create it...

It's irrelevant because these powerplants are no longer for powering Earth but space based colony's. I've also explained the batteries option.

 

[Silvercrest]

How do you convert the microwaves back to electricity when they arrive?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

How do you convert the microwaves back to electricity when they arrive?

Rectenna.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

[More energy produced, more energy stored. Transferred through space easily with minimal required fuel...[/I]"

Got any facts, math or published works to prove these statements?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Got any facts, math or published works to prove these statements?

How about common sense?

 

[Gepard]

How about common sense?

How about "that's not good enough?"

 

[All Seeing Eye]

How about common sense?

How about "that's not good enough?"

So you're saying solar panels are more efficient and produce more power than a space based turbine system?

 

[Kaziarl]

You want an apology? You stated that you'd just beam the energy to Earth using microwaves, and I asked more detailed follow-up questions, to which you just repeated the original premise. Let's try again.

How will you get that energy to Earth at any sort of efficiency level, or where 100% of the energy isn't lost before it arrives? Power transmission is a bitch like that, even regular power lines lose a certain percentage (can't remember the number off the top of my head) of all the energy they try to distribute from the power plants. Add in literally astronomical distances, radiation, moving targets, and the possibility of other planets or the moon in the way on a regular basis, and I think it goes beyond just being a 'concern' into something you're really have to plan for upfront, rather than blowing off in favor of focusing on the turbine. If the energy can't GET anywhere, no reason to create it...

Not to mention if you miss and hit a city, we'll all be reliving those sim city disasters all over again.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

How about common sense?

How about "that's not good enough?"

So you're saying solar panels are more efficient and produce more power than a space based turbine system?

Is now a good time to mention this recent BBC News article?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8341186.stm

Solar power could be produced cheaply in specially designed optical fibres, say researchers.

The work, published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, makes use of nanometre-scale wires built around optical fibres like bristles.

Those wires give the light much more surface area to interact with, leading to higher overall efficiencies.

However, only the ends of the fibres must be exposed - they funnel the light elsewhere for power generation.

Instead of roof-sized panels, small collectors could be used on the roof, with the real machinery of solar power generation tucked away, for example, between a home's walls.

"Using this technology, we can make photovoltaic generators that are foldable, concealed and mobile," said Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US.

 

[Gepard]

So you're saying solar panels are more efficient and produce more power than a space based turbine system?

You have no idea how efficient or not a "space-based turbine" system would be for getting power to Earth. And neither do I. It would require, you know, experimentation, which there has been none of.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Is now a good time to mention this recent BBC News article?

snip

Even so, would they be more energy efficient and produce as much as turbine generation? I highly doubt it.

You have no idea how efficient or not a "space-based turbine" system would be for getting power to Earth. And neither do I. It would require, you know, experimentation, which there has been none of.

There's no way of knowing how efficient it will be no, but you can make a reasonable guess that it will be far better than solar panels.
The difference in energy generation between turbines and solar panels if enormous. You may lose energy on transit but it depends on the method of transportation.

If there is a network of these turbines near to the sun and we have 'battery ships' that continually transfer the power it seems reasonable to presume it would produce more power than panels. In exchange for this power you lose a bit of fuel on the ships, far less fuel than would be used in Earth based power generation.

But it's no longer about getting power to Earth, it's about space based colonys.

 

[Silvercrest]

How do you convert the microwaves back to electricity when they arrive?

Rectenna.

Ah. I just looked that up. Never ran across that bit of tech before. Carry on then....

 

[Trekker4747]

But it's no longer about getting power to Earth, it's about space based colonys.

So, now the entire premise of your idea has changed from wanting to solve the energy crisis on earth to wanting to power the as-of-now non-exsistant space colonies? (Which if they exsisted the least of their worries would be power which they could get much more easily from nuclear method (fission or maybe someday fusion.)

Your idea makes no sense, is Rube Goldbergian in concept overly complicated (remember the first rule of engineering is KISS) and I'm sure violates a law or two thermal-dynamics in the process.