gadget.com A stairway to solar power. gadget.com image:40669:4::0

Just bout the time folk in the oil bidness began noticing Texas was being sucked dry, American scientist Peter Glaser introduced the idea of space solar power.

This was '68 and throughout the 1970s, NASA and the United States Department of Energy worked on the concept, eventually concluding that while the technology was feasible, the price of putting it all together and throwing the switch in outer space was too astronomical.

NASA revisited space solar power with a so-called "Fresh Look" study in the mid-90s but the research lost momentum when the space agency decided to fold its cards on the technology By 2002 the project was done, a casualty of governmental complacency, investment timidity and lock of political will.

And might have remained so for some time yet were it not for pressure from other economic centres, primarily India. That country's in the leading pack of voracious new energy consumers. By 2030, India's Planning Commission estimates the country will have to generate at least 700,000 megawatts of additional power to meet the demands of its expanding economy and growing population. Unfortunately, much of that is slated to come from coal-fired plants.

Skyrocketing oil prices, a heightened awareness of climate change and worries about natural resource depletion have recently prompted a renewed interest in beaming extraterrestrial energy back to Earth.

Russia, China, the European Union and India, according to the Pentagon report, are interested in the concept. And Japan, which has been pouring millions of dollars into space power studies for decades, is working toward testing a small-scale demonstration in the near future.

A Indian/US consortium sees the idea as a solution for India's chronic electricity shortage, one that does not involve power plants on the ground but instead massive sun-gathering satellites in geosynchronous orbits 22,000 miles in the sky.

Massive solar satellites would beam power back to ground-based receivers on Earth. The satellites would electromagnetically beam gigawatts of solar energy back to ground-based receivers, to be converted to electricity and transferred to power grids. Since in high Earth orbit, satellites are unaffected by the earth's shadow virtually 365 days a year, the floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity.

Back in the USA, all of a sudden the Pentagon is looking good, courtesy of a 2007 report which has since become very influential in Washington. In it, the Pentagon's National Security Space Office, encourages the U.S. government to spearhead the development of space power systems and invest in solar harvesting technology.

"A single kilometer-wide band of geosynchronous Earth orbit experiences enough solar flux in one year to nearly equal the amount of energy contained within all known recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today," the report said, according to CNN.

The study also concluded that solar energy from satellites could provide power for global U.S. military operations and deliver energy to disaster areas and developing nations. It noted key indicators that a country which could takes the lead on space solar power will be an energy-exporting country to the entire planet.

But let's not go closing the Tar Sands right away. First we must get through the valley of the zombies that eat this thing's brain the first time around.

First, the lack of cheap and reliable access to space, a necessity for launching hundreds of components to build what will be miles-long platforms. While the necessary bits are now available, upgrades in robotic technology needed to piece structures together high above Earth are still in the "challenging" stages of development.

A government/private sector hookup seems a no-brainer but is so far slow in coming.

Nonetheless, the bright bulbs insist the time is now and the thing can be done.

"The conditions are ripe for something to happen on space solar power," said Charles Miller, a director of the Space Frontier Foundation, a group promoting public access to space. "The environment is perfect for a new start. We could see the first operational power satellite in about the 2020 time frame if we act now".

Something to look forward to but for now, best thing is to get on your bike and soak up your share of solar energy.