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Moon power could solve energy crunch - scientist

By Andrew Quinn

 
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - With Earth's power consumption forecast to rocket to new highs in coming decades, one scientist is proposing a suitably far-out solution to the likely energy crunch -- power plants on the moon.

Prof. David Criswell of the University of Houston's Institute for Space Systems said that lunar power plants that capture the sun's rays and send them on to Earth as concentrated microwave beams could provide inexpensive, abundant and stable energy for the Earth's growing population.

"This would be energy on a global scale," Criswell said in a briefing at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting here.

Criswell's idea might seem loopy, but he insists that it would be achievable if the U.S. government would commit to spending the money -- estimated at roughly three times the $19 billion budget of the Apollo space program.

Criswell's lunar power plant idea was one of a number of alternative energy strategies floated by scientists at the AGU meeting to address the environmental crisis posed by Earth's voracious power consumption.

With some 85 percent of overall energy now produced by fossil fuels -- blamed for producing the greenhouse gases many scientists believe are behind global warming -- researchers say new methods must be found to generate energy if world economic growth is to continue in a healthy environment.

MOON SAID OBVIOUS CHOICE

According to Criswell, the moon is an obvious choice    for new power production facilities that would feature none of the pollution or nuclear waste of earthbound plants.

Criswell's plan involves setting up solar panels at numerous new lunar installations to collect the sun's rays. This energy could then be converted into a microwave beam and sent back to "rectennas" on Earth, where it would be easily converted into electricity that could be plugged into the power grid.

The microwave energy beam, which could pass through rain and clouds, would have the intensity of about 20 percent of noontime sunlight and would be perfectly safe with only a slight problem of local radio interference, he said.

Criswell said the bulk of his lunar power plants could be easily constructed from materials already found on the moon, and that they were technologically simple enough to wire up quickly.

"This is comparable to the technology in a modern microwave oven," he said.

He conceded that some people might be concerned that the system could fall into the wrong hands, possibly transforming the gentle microwave power beam into a new type of weapon that could blast the Earth from space.

"You can turn almost anything into a weapon as we now know," Criswell said, adding that he was confident that enough safeguards could be built into the system to prevent it from being turned into a death ray.

Criswell estimates that it would cost about $9 billion to get a small working prototype of his lunar power plant up and running on the moon. Once it has proven that it works, a further investment of about $50 billion could build the entire system -- and break even in about five years.

"It's really a very cost-effective proposal," he said.

Extraterrestrial power production is not necessarily a new idea. Power-producing solar satellites were first suggested in the 1960s and have been periodically reviewed.

Criswell said the idea of siting power plants on the moon makes more sense.

"Why build a satellite? We already have one," he said.

19:41 12-12-01

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