Example of a StratoSolar based complete energy solution for the UK
The slideshow below shows the physical scale of twelve approximately 60 GWp (nameplate capacity) StratoSolar power plants positioned above the locations of current nuclear power plants in the UK. This is sufficient to provide all energy (not just electricity) for the UK (64 million people today) in 2050. It could be deployed incrementally at a rate of 25 GWp/year between 2020 and 2050 with an overall investment of between $10B and $20B per year. The UK currently spends about $220B/year of its $2.5T/year economy on energy, so this is well within current levels of expenditure on energy.
Contrast the minimal land impact of this solution with the land use, cost and environmental impact of several possible UK alternative energy solutions described in depth in Dr. David MacKay's book "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air". The ample data and rational discussion of Dr MacKay's book provides a solid and unique factual basis for comparing and contrasting the practicality of a StratoSolar based solution for the UK.
The U.K. is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Nevertheless these views show the limited environmental impact of a complete StratoSolar based power solution. The impact in less densely populated countries would be even less, as is illustrated by the single plant situated in Ireland that provides the complete energy needs of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (6.4 million people).
The views from above show how little land is directly impacted. The view showing clouds highlights how StratoSolar is above the clouds, solving a problem that significantly reduces the practicality of ground based solar solar over the UK. Using the largely coastal locations of current nuclear power plants highlights the advantage of tethering mostly over water, further reducing the impact on land. Keeping a small part of an array over land provides an area for construction, deployment and maintenance and a direct high voltage connection to land. A similar arrangement of platforms would suit Japan, another densely populated Island nation.
The small amount of land underneath platforms is impacted far less than the land beneath wind farms or solar arrays and as Dr MacKay's scenarios show, covers a small fraction of the land needed for wind, solar and biofuels solutions. Also, synthetic fuel manufacture enabled by very low cost electricity has far smaller ecological impact than growing plants for biofuels. The relatively low impact in comparison to wave, wind, solar and biofuels gives a visual hint of why StratoSolar is also low cost.
Were StratoSolar to become successful, it would eliminate the future growing environmental impact of deploying wave, wind, solar and biofuels on the monumental scale illustrated by Dr MacKay. In addition it would reduce the environmental impact of current energy infrastructure. Supertankers would no longer exist along with the ecological damage their accidents can cause. Oil disasters like that in the Gulf of Mexico would not happen. Landscapes would not be scarred by open pit coal mining or fields of pumps for oil and gas extraction.
Contrast the minimal land impact of this solution with the land use, cost and environmental impact of several possible UK alternative energy solutions described in depth in Dr. David MacKay's book "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air". The ample data and rational discussion of Dr MacKay's book provides a solid and unique factual basis for comparing and contrasting the practicality of a StratoSolar based solution for the UK.
The U.K. is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Nevertheless these views show the limited environmental impact of a complete StratoSolar based power solution. The impact in less densely populated countries would be even less, as is illustrated by the single plant situated in Ireland that provides the complete energy needs of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (6.4 million people).
The views from above show how little land is directly impacted. The view showing clouds highlights how StratoSolar is above the clouds, solving a problem that significantly reduces the practicality of ground based solar solar over the UK. Using the largely coastal locations of current nuclear power plants highlights the advantage of tethering mostly over water, further reducing the impact on land. Keeping a small part of an array over land provides an area for construction, deployment and maintenance and a direct high voltage connection to land. A similar arrangement of platforms would suit Japan, another densely populated Island nation.
The small amount of land underneath platforms is impacted far less than the land beneath wind farms or solar arrays and as Dr MacKay's scenarios show, covers a small fraction of the land needed for wind, solar and biofuels solutions. Also, synthetic fuel manufacture enabled by very low cost electricity has far smaller ecological impact than growing plants for biofuels. The relatively low impact in comparison to wave, wind, solar and biofuels gives a visual hint of why StratoSolar is also low cost.
Were StratoSolar to become successful, it would eliminate the future growing environmental impact of deploying wave, wind, solar and biofuels on the monumental scale illustrated by Dr MacKay. In addition it would reduce the environmental impact of current energy infrastructure. Supertankers would no longer exist along with the ecological damage their accidents can cause. Oil disasters like that in the Gulf of Mexico would not happen. Landscapes would not be scarred by open pit coal mining or fields of pumps for oil and gas extraction.
Dr. David MacKay's plan M from his book "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air"
Plan M is one of several different alternative energy plans that could provide the CO2 emissions free energy needs of the UK in 2050. This plan relies heavily on nuclear power and energy imports, which would be a hard sell for committed environmentalists. This would reduce the impact on land, but as the map above shows the landscape is still very heavily impacted.
Dr MacKay projects the UK energy need as around 70 kWh per day per person, which is less energy per person than the current 125 kWh/d/p. He explains this reduction in detail as a combination of gains from efficiency and electrification, much like this StratoSolar based scenario for a 2050 world energy system. The StratoSolar system illustrated above is conservative and is based on the current UK total energy demand of 125 kWh/d/p. Based on Dr MacKay's 70/kWh/d/p estimate, the StratoSolar systems might only need to be be about half to one third as large which would also be less than half the cost and half the environmental impact.
The short document below covers the UK solution described above and can be downloaded from Scribd for distribution.
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