I don’t think this is a quick fix- it will take a couple of decades before a large space-based solar generators can be deployed on a large scale.

“This is what a cell phone uses- now lets see here… didn’t they discover that too much cellphone use is bad for you????”

No, they didn’t discover that. The studies on that topic are dubious and equivocal at best.

“Is this going to cause a bigger hole in the atmosphere?”

Ozone depletion is caused by a chemical reaction between oxygen and chlorofluorocarbon pollution. The radiation from space-based solar collectors wouldn’t react with the air hardly at all. People have been using radio emitters and microwave emitters since WWII and even before- it is one of the most robust and well-documented technologies that exist. If they did alter the chemical make-up of air, we would have seen it by now.

That said, it *would* indeed be dangerous to live in a large column of microwave radiation from space. Precisely because of that, engineers are looking into radio and laser transmission. The latter could be very precisely directed, although lasers tend to be less efficient in the atmosphere.

It’s true that the long-term effects would need careful study. But we already know what the long-term effects of our current trajectory are if we do nothing- total disaster.

Wow the world is bad- rich people need to stop rushing into ideas that are just quick fixes. We need some real innovation without scary consequences.

Dear alexlowe: I think you are missing the fact that it says they are beaming MICROWAVES. This is what a cell phone uses- now lets see here… didn\’t they discover that too much cellphone use is bad for you???? Doesn\’t your microwave come with warnings about standing away from it while it is running??? Also lets take a look at the fundamentals: this is a big project and we have no idea what it could do in the long run. Example Hoover dam- yeah it makes a lot of power, yeah it gave people jobs and money, but big problem- it changed to face of the earth and the heat produced from the turbines is ruining the ecosystem in the river downstream. YUCKY- no I don\’t agree with this at all. We need to start small on the consumer product end first.

As for the concerns that we are \\\’blasting\\\’ the earth with more radiation- please read basic physics. The orbiting solar collectors are not creating any additional energy to transmit through the atmosphere. They are merely converting a tiny fraction of the sun\\\’s rays directed at Earth into a more usable form.

The critical point is that the radiation is already directed at Earth, so it will hit the atmosphere *regardless of whether the solar collectors are there or not*

In fact, the energy in the form beamed down by the solar collectors does not react with CO2 molecules in the same way visible light does- i.e. they will generally not contribute to the greenhouse effect at all. And once you factor in the amount of pollution this will displace, it is clearly a brilliant idea.

I\\\’m not a fan of BigCorp either, but it seems like they\\\’ve hit this on the head.