Alternative+Article+Five

Bobby Schneider Oil Politics: Oil Alternatives Project Article Annotation Five

A woman named Smitha Pisharam, who goes by the blogger name spisharam, attended Mahatma Gandhi University from 1988-1991. After graduating, she has gone on to become a successful blogger/internet writer and is presently holding a position as Content Manager at CubeMatrixsystems. In the past, Pisharam has written about many interesting topics, usually discussing both the environment and forms of eco-living.

In a recent article entry by Pisharam, called “Solar Wind: Answer to Earth’s Energy Quest?” the design, pros, and cons of the Dyson-Harrop satellite are presented. Brooks L. Harrop and Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University have declared “that a solar wind power satellite could be an answer to the world’s energy crisis” (spisharam, 2010, page 1). The satellite, expected to be up to 8,400 kilometers wide, could draw in a potential 1 billion billion gigawatts of power, which is “far more power than humanity needs.” This satellite would also be self-sustaining because it would “use electrons from solar winds to generate energy, and then use photons from the sun to eject the used electrons” (spisharam, 2010, page 1, 2). Some of the benefits of this method of energy production are that it has very little effect on the solar wind output from the sun, is made of mostly fairly cheap copper, and, if further developments can confirm this, may be able to “remain in a stationary position” (Spisharam, 2010, page 2). However, the downsides with a concept such as this are that the satellite would be unable to avoid space storms and space debris, could suffer from heat dissipation, it faces energy transmission/technology issues, and would first have to be used to power objects in space before it would be ready to travel the entire distance back to Earth (Spisharam, 2010, page 2). Hopefully, however, in the end the challenges can be overcome and this type of satellite will “create enough energy for the human race to survive” (Spisharam, 2010, page 2).

This document contains many interesting facts, but three quotes in particular help to state the primary topics being discussed within the literature. The idea for this particular satellite comes from “. . . 2 Washington State University Scientists Brooks L. Harrop and Dirk Schulze-Makuch [who] were proposing that a solar wind power satellite. . . could be an answer to the world’s energy crisis” (Spisharam, 2010, page 1). “. . . DH [Dyson-Harrop] satellites can be produced to collect any amount of power desired, up to the total energy of the sun” (Spisharam, 2010, page 2) and judging by how large the sun is, this proves just how immense the potential energy supply could be. The third quote which seems to help support the effort toward developing solar wind satellites is that it is: “Easy to manufacture and it is made almost entirely of copper with no circuitry.” Since the majority of this project would rely on copper to be constructed, it will be far less expensive than any solar power projects that require costly photovoltaic cells.

This article was helpful in my research because, despite its shorter length, it provided a great amount of information that was useful both for the slideshow presentation and the individual wiki post. The neatly organized lists of pros and cons in the document were also time-saving because, unlike many of the other articles that I have read, I did not have to go back through the entire article to find the randomly placed benefits and challenges. With further planning and research, I see no reason why the majority of these current obstacles could not be overcome and so I expect to see solar wind power acting as a primary energy supplier of the future.

__Works Cited__:

Spisharam: “Solar Wind: Answer to Earth’s Energy Quest?” __Connect Green__. __Alternative Energy__. 8 Oct. 2010. < [] >.

__Past Work and Credentials__:

<[]>. <[]>. <[]>.