Space Solar Power and The Great Race to Clean Global Power 3 rd Annual Military Energy Altern

1. Space Solar Power and The Great Race to Clean Global Power 3rd Annual Military Energy Alternatives January 8, 2007 Washington, D.C. Darel Preble chair, Space Solar Power Workshop www.sspi.gatech.edu Space Solar Power Workshop

2. The US is not leading the Great Race Space Solar Power Workshop

3. But we could be!! Space Solar Power Workshop

4. Space Solar Power Workshop

5. I hope you have all read the NSSO’s excellent SSP report at: http://spacesolarpower.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/final-sbsp-interim-assessment-release-01.pdf Space Solar Power Workshop

6. America’s energy security and global environment are at risk • These threats are imminent - in the time frame required to address them. • Nothing is being done on the scale and time frame required. • SSP is the most important clean baseload energy source - with the potential to strongly address our energy, environment and related problems with a magnificent alternative. Space Solar Power Workshop

7. Peaking Oil Dr. Robert Hirsch finds the most current and authoritative research predicts peak global oil production between 2008 and 2018: "In a worst-case scenario, global oil production may reach its peak in 2008, before starting to decline. In a best-case scenario, this peak would not be reached until 2018.” “Giant Oil Fields – Highway to Oil”, dissertation, F. Robelius, Uppsala University, 2007. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070330100802.htm and www.peakoil.net/GiantOilFields.html Space Solar Power Workshop

8. Peaking Coal The most current and authoritative research predicts peak global coal production by 2025. - "Peak coal by 2025 say researchers", initiated by a German member of Parliament. Authors: Dr. Werner Zittel and Jörg Schindler www.energywatchgroup.org/files/Coalreport.pdf and www.energybulletin.net/28287.html “In the next five to ten years, oil production from non-OPEC producers will reach a peak before starting to decline, for lack of sufficient reserves. At the same time the peak economic expansion phase of China will take place. … We think that the market share of bio-fuels in 2030 will only be 7 % of global fuel production. To reach 7 %, one will need an agricultural area equivalent to the surface of Australia, plus Korea, Japan and New Zealand. - International Energy Agency chief economist Fatih Birol www.energybulletin.net/32242.html Space Solar Power Workshop

9. The Natural Gas Peaking Disaster The U.S. has the highest natural gas prices in the world. Why? Space Solar Power Workshop

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11. “High natural gas prices are a particular hardship for the U.S. chemical industry, the nation’s largest industrial consumer of natural gas. U.S. natural gas prices are the highest in the world. We have lost more than $50 billion in business to overseas competition.“More than 90,000 good-paying jobs in our industry have disappeared, as well as collateral jobs in associated businesses. Unless immediate action is taken, the continued viability of a great American industry is in jeopardy. - Tom Reilly, President, American Chemistry Council, letter to President Bush November 19, 2004 http://accnewsmedia.com/docs/2100/2073.pdf Space Solar Power Workshop

12. USGS assessment of Mexico’s oil & gas reserves (billion barrels oil equivalent) (EIA estimates) Source: "A Case Study on Peak Energy - The U. S’s Natural Gas Disaster” http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/files/ASPO2004.pdf Space Solar Power Workshop

13. Declining oil & gas supply data reliabilityOutside the US global oil & gas reserve data is of extremely poor qualitywww.ipaa.org/meetings/ppt/2007Annual/JeffDietert.pps Flying Blind Space Solar Power Workshop

14. US Energy Companies Declining in Global Clout and Production Control Gazprom, Nigeria Discuss Gas Deal January 5, 2008 - London - Russia's Gazprom OAO is in discussions with the Nigerian government about signing an energy deal that would see the giant state-run natural gas company help explore and develop the West African nation's giant gas resources, a senior Nigerian oil official and Gazprom officials said.” - WSJ, by Spencer Swartz http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119954544206270191.html Space Solar Power Workshop

15. Rose Colored GlassesSince 1999, in its annual oil price assumptions, the International Energy Agency in Paris has underestimated oil prices by 27% on average. U.S. Energy Information Agency forecasts have underestimated the actual oil price by 22% on average over the same period. Space Solar Power Workshop

16. EIA says no change - fossil fuels keep growing and growing 2030 702 QUADRILLION BTU 2004 447 QUADRILLION BTU 1980 263 QUADRILLION BTU NATURAL GAS OIL COAL WIND / SOLAR / GEOTHERMAL HYDRO NUCLEAR BIOMASS Source: EIA International REFERENCE CASE

17. “It will require more than a decade to transition our civilization away from our heavy dependence on oil. Nothing close to the efforts envisaged have yet begun.” - Testimony by Robert Hirsch, SAIC, at the Pentagon and U.S. Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, from the "Hirsch Report", commissioned by the Department of Energy -http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/hearings/12072005Hearing1733/hearing.htm and "Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation and Risk Management www.netl.doe.gov/otiic/World_Oil_Issues/Oil_Peaking_NETL.pdf Space Solar Power Workshop

18. The Energy, Food & Environment view ahead is disastrous!! Space Solar Power Workshop

19. The best we’ve got – SSP – is unfunded - still in the pits!! Space Solar Power Workshop

20. “Peaking units”, such as wind or terrestrial solar, may provide power for 25-30% of a good day, (on average). Space Solar Power (SSP), however, is “baseload” available 99% of the year from GeoSynchronous Orbit. (Baseload nuclear or coal plants, typically running 24/7, are actually available only 90% of the year.) SPS requires no fuel and has no operations personnel – it is an antenna – with farms underneath. SSP is the cleanest source of virtually unlimited baseload energy. Space Solar Power Workshop

21. The supply gap for the US natural gas market alone could reach 10 Trillion Cubic feet/year by 2020[1]. (In Btu equivalent terms, this is nearly twice the amount of oil the U.S. currently imports from the Middle East.) Globally the oil supply gap of 2020 has been projected to be 15 million barrels per day[2]. On the massive TeraWatt scale soon required, only SSP can provide the clean reliable baseload energy the world requires. No other alternative energy technology succeeds: [1] “Playing with Fire - Part II”, http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1397 [2] “Is There A Painless Way To Fill The Oil Supply Gap?”, by Dr Michael R. Smith, http://www.energyfiles.com/oilsupplygap.html Space Solar Power Workshop

22. What are our alternatives? Space Solar Power Workshop

23. "We are in the beginning stages of major changes to agricultural markets caused by rapidly expanding production of bio-fuels.“ – Credit Suisse Group, in “Corn Is Booming as Ethanol Heats Up”, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116260858542413472.html Although that is only one-seventh the quantity President Bush foresees for 2015, that demand has pushed corn to near-record prices. “If all the corn produced in America in 2005 were dedicated to ethanol production it would reduce U.S. demand for gasoline by, at most, 12 percent... –“A bumper crop of unintended consequences”, http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=180746 Space Solar Power Workshop

24. To reach Bush’s 20 percent goal, corn production must grow to 167 percent of its 2005 levels, and every kernel must go into ethanol.   Kiss your corn pudding goodbye. Corn is also the major feed/ingredient for chickens, pigs, cattle; milk, cheese, eggs, hamburger, Coke, Pepsi, Jack Daniels, etc., ... (By weight, a McDonald’s hamburger is 52% corn.) Space Solar Power Workshop

25. The Myth Of Biofuels (1) These myths include: • Large-scale biofuel production is sustainable • Biofuels are environmentally friendly and reduce CO2 emissions • Biofuels will help us (the USA) achieve "energy independence“ • Biofuels will help the farmers • "Second-generation biofuels will save us“ • Biofuels will let us continue our current way of life Space Solar Power Workshop

26. The Myth Of Biofuels (2) Little known Biofuel Facts - In 2007, in the USA, corn for ethanol will exceed corn for export. USA corn exports provide 60% of the world market. - As demand for corn goes up, production of other crops will decline, for years, including wheat, rice and others. - Biofuels do not have the energy density of oil. The EROI (Energy Returned On Energy Invested) of bioethanol has a ratio of about 2:1 We currently benefit from Middle East crude oil, with an EROI of 30:1 Many more people will be growing food themselves. Space Solar Power Workshop

27. The Myth Of Biofuels (3) Little known Biofuel Facts - Biodiesel. The four best (kg/hectare) biodiesel crops only grow in the tropics. If all the world's vegetable oil were converted to biodiesel, it would provide about 8% of world consumption of diesel. Some countries have targets of 10% biodiesel, thus the reason why some groups are convinced these targets will lead to starvation. - Ecologically, there is nothing sustainable about USA biofuels. - The Myth of Biofuels is excerpted from a presentation by David Fridley of Lawrence Berkeley Labs, June 2007. More details and information are available from the website, The Myths of Biofuels. http://www.odac-info.org/bulletin/bulletin.htm#myth_of_biofuels Space Solar Power Workshop

28. “The 111 ethanol refineries now in operation, the 75 under construction or expansion, and others still being planned, would be able to use 10 billion bushels of corn a year by 2009 — about the same as the entire 2006 crop.  The price of pig feed has gone up 25 per cent since the US summer, he said, "and it's not the price so much as the fact that it's just not available“ -  Dave Warner, National Pork Producers Council. "The days of the United States meat industry in its current state appear to be numbered. The gates are down. The lights are flashing. Does anyone see the train coming?“ - David Nelson, agribusiness analyst for Credit Suisse Group, in “Ethanol fuels concern of US farmers“ http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/ethanol-fuels-concern-of-us-farmers/2007/01/28/1169919212154.html Space Solar Power Workshop

29. Forget oil, the new global crisis is foodBMO strategist Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will pale in comparison to looming catastrophe - A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group "It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard." - Financial Post,, January 03, 2008, www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=213343 Space Solar Power Workshop

30. So How do we build SSP? No company(s) or agency(s), however, is prepared to assume the immense financial risk of initiating construction of an SSPS. There are simply too many engineering, financial, regulatory and managerial risks for any group we have been able to identify to undertake SSP today. But this road has been well traveled by America before ... Space Solar Power Workshop

31. There is a tried and true vehicle, that could initiate SSP construction today. A private Congressionally chartered corporation has all the requisite advantages. Comsat Corp., chartered in 1962, opened space for communication satellites - when we knew little about space, rockets or space communications. Communications satellites are now a $100 Billion industry per year. The “Sunsat Act” would accomplish the same task, creating a space solar power industry of much greater size. Space Solar Power Workshop

32. Trans-Continental Railroad “Cape Horn at The Head of The Great American Canon”, …- Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, April 27, 1878 Space Solar Power Workshop

33. Congress chartered Comsat Corp.in 1962 to build communications satellites. Comsat Corp. opened space to the diverse $100+ Billion per year communications satellite business of today. Congress should charter a new corporation, Sunsat Corp. to build power satellites. Draft legislation for Sunsat, very much like Comsat, would have all the requisite advantages. We recommend that congress charter Sunsat Corp. The electric power industry is the most capital intensive business in the world. This is why utilities are generally regulated monopolies – because ownership of major power plants is really a public trust. Sunsat also needs to be organized the same way. Space Solar Power Workshop

34. This legislation would provide a launch “subsidy” to new private or public/ private businesses, such as SunSat Corp, which are contracting for space transportation. This subsidy would be in the form of stock transfers and loan guarantees. Sunsat Corp. is aiming for 42,000 flights per year, nominally. Prices would quickly fall below current levels once subsidies established such a market volume. Space Solar Power Workshop

35. Prices drop as flight rate increases Red dots are Elon Musk, SpaceX, $1300/lb and Roger Angel’s $20/lb (Sandia electromagnetic launch) Space Solar Power Workshop

36. COTS Program NASA plans to retire the shuttle by 2010 and Orion-Ares is not scheduled until 2015. Four companies are competing for $175 million in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS): • California-based SpaceDev is offering its Dream Chaser. • Texas-based Spacehab, is proposing its ARCTUS. Affiliates include Lockheed Martin, Cimarron and Odyssey Space Research. • Virginia-based Transformational Space - t/Space - cargo-capable capsule would be launched by an air-dropped rocket. • PlanetSpace is partnering with Lockheed Martin, ATK, Wyle Laboratories, Paragon Space, MEHTA Engineering and BMO.[1] On December 18, 2007, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), HAWTHORNE, CA completed the Systems Requirements Review for what will be the third Falcon 9 / Dragon demonstration. SpaceX says it intends to demonstrate its launch, maneuvering and docking abilities by 2009. [1] http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/30/490524.aspx Space Solar Power Workshop

37. The FAA’s 2007 Commercial Space Transportation Forecast shows a declining launch market – no change is forecast in high launch costs – necessary for SSP. SSP must incentivize the orbital market fleet it needs to close the business case. SSP is the only market capable of doing this. The FAA shows it won’t happen with business as usual assumptions, we need Sunsat Act. Space Solar Power Workshop

38. Continuing - since space transportation is expensive we want to find high performance photovoltaic cells – to increase the power output for the same weight carried to orbit. • Space qualified thin-film solar cells in the pipeline today can provide 4550 Watts/Kg. These are adequate specifications to begin SSP design and/or construction now. • We anticipate tripling that performance within 3-5 years, using current laboratory PV cells.* Space Solar Power Workshop

39. Photo courtesy NASA, and ManTech-SRS Technologies

40. Space Solar Power Workshop Source: Ken Zweibel, NREL

41. SkyWorker an autononous robot to build multi-kilometer size space structures Credit – Red Whitaker, CMU Robotics, http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/projects/skyworker/temp/skyworker2.mpg Space Solar Power Workshop

42. ASTRO Captures NextSat On July 23, 2007, for the first time ever, a satellite autonomously rendezvoused with and captured another orbiting satellite, pioneering future robotic work in space. ASTRO (Autonomous SpaceTransport Robotic Operations), part of Boeing’s Orbital Express system, successfully demonstrated advanced on-orbit satellite refueling and reconfiguration capabilities with NextSat. ASTRO, the robotic, on-orbit spacecraft mechanic, successfully captured NextSat. Orbital Express is a DARPA program which has validated on-orbit satellite servicing technologies. Space Solar Power Workshop

43. Advantages of Space Solar Power • Unlike oil, gas, ethanol, and coal plants, SSP does not emit CO2. • Unlike coal and nuclear plants, SSP does not compete for or depend upon increasingly scarce fresh water resources. • Unlike bio-ethanol or bio-diesel, SSP does not compete for increasingly valuable farm land or depend on natural-gas-derived fertilizer. Food can continue to be a major export instead of a fuel provider. • Unlike nuclear power plants, SSP will not produce hazardous waste, proliferate nuclear weapons, or provide easy targets for terrorists. Space Solar Power Workshop

44. Advantages of Space Solar Power - 2 • Unlike terrestrial solar and wind power plants, SSP is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in endless quantities. It ignores cloud cover, daylight, or wind speed. • Unlike coal and nuclear fuels, SSP does not require environmentally problematic mining operations. • SSP can provide true energy independence for the nations that develop it, eliminating a major source of national competition for limited Earth-based energy resources and dependence on unstable or hostile foreign oil providers. Space Solar Power Workshop

45. Advantages of Space Solar Power - 3 • SSP can be easily exported anywhere in the world, and its energy can be converted to local needs, from household appliances in rural India to desalination of sea water. • SSP can take advantage of our current and historic investment in aerospace expertise to expand employment opportunities in solving the difficult problems of energy security and climate change. • SSP can provide a market large enough to develop the low-cost space transportation system required to enable an SSP business case. This will slowly open the solar system to Earth’s economic reach and even settlement. Space Solar Power Workshop

46. The Path of Space Solar Power If we move soon, we can alleviate much of the disastrous impact that other attempts to substitute for SSP will have, such as raising the cost of food and starving millions worldwide. Many economical alternatives can contribute - beginning with electrifying our transportation systems, such as hybrid-electric cars, as Japan and France are doing . The technologies and infrastructure required to make SSP feasible include: • Low-cost, environmentally-friendly launch vehicles. Current launch vehicles are too expensive, and at high launch rates may pose atmospheric pollution problems of their own. Only SSP enables and requires these. Space Solar Power Workshop

47. The Path of Space Solar Power - 2 • Large scale in-orbit construction and operations. The physics requires that solar power satellites must be huge, gathering massive utility-scale quantities of energy. • World photovoltaic (PV) production would be greatly expanded into space, where it began in 1958 with our Vanguard I spacecraft. Currently just 0.03% of worldwide electricity is generated from photovoltaic power. 2006 world PV production was 2.1 GW • All other necessary technologies are similarly reasonably near-term and have multiple attractive approaches. However, much work (STEM jobs) that we understand well is needed to bring them to practical fruition Space Solar Power Workshop

48. SSP would revitalize America by showing that a multitude of space-development-related-educational-fields, from telerobotics to wireless power transfer and environmental sciences, are vitally relevant to these great problems. Reduced launch costs, the key enabler, will provide unprecedented access to space and space operations beginning with clean, baseload SSP - reliable power delivery and global energy security at greatly reduced environmental impact. Only SSP can support this vastly expanded space launch market. Choosing to charter an SSP corporation would be “a small step for man, a giant leap for mankind.” Space Solar Power Workshop

49. Sunsat Act Draft legislation available at: www.sspi.gatech.edu/sunsat-how.pdf Learn more at www.sspi.gatech.edu Email: darel.preble@comcast.net And many other resources such as: www.nss.org/settlement/ssp/sspvideo.htm FOR MORE INFO... Space Solar Power Workshop